Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair by Interventional Cardiologists—A Community‐Based Experience

Abstract

EVAR can be successfully performed by experienced interventional cardiologists with vascular surgical support in a community-based setting. In our experience, there is acceptable rate of complications and mortality in a carefully selected patient population.

Periprocedural and long‐term outcomes of endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair in cardiology practice

“…The difference in mortality is more pronounced after EVAR . Findings from our previously published study on EVAR by interventional cardiologists are in concordance with this meta‐analysis. Higher complications are probably because of smaller size of the vessels in women.…”

“…All candidates for endovascular repair should undergo testing to evaluate known or suspected coexisting conditions, such as stress testing for coronary disease or pulmonary‐function testing for chronic lung disease. EVAR is feasible only in patients who satisfy certain specific anatomical requirements , which are usually assessed by means of CTA. Abdominal aortogram does not necessarily show the accurate dimensions of AAA, which is due to the presence of thrombus in most of these aneurysms.…”

“…The study is registered with NLM http://Clinicaltrials.gov; Identifier # NCT01452620. As per the protocol of our hospital interventional lab, all patients underwent strict screening using the inclusion and exclusion criteria published with our initial experience from this study data . All patients were evaluated pre‐procedure, as out patients in the cardiologist's office and patients who required cut down for access site, also had out patient evaluation with the surgeon.…”

“…All patients were discharged home on aspirin and clopidogrel if not contra indicated. Medical management postprocedure included the treatment of other comorbidities and strict follow‐up and surveillance as described previously . The rest of the material and methods including data collection tools, inclusion criteria, and the statistical methods utilized are as per the previous published report .…”

“…We present our periprocedural and long‐term follow‐up outcomes of EVAR performed primarily by interventional cardiologists. The initial results of this database were published elsewhere in the past .…”