Outcome of endovascular repair for intact and ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysms.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess long-term outcome after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA).

METHODS: All patients who underwent TEVAR for TAA at Uppsala University Hospital from December 1999 to December 2014 were included. Characteristics of the patients and outcome data were collected from medical records, national population registry, and cause of death registry. Perioperative survival was analyzed with the χ2 test, and 5-year survival was estimated with Kaplan-Meier analysis. Predictors of long-term survival were assessed with Cox regression.

RESULTS: There were 77 patients included in the study, 49 with intact TAAs (iTAAs) and 28 with ruptured TAAs (rTAAs). Mean follow-up was 83.7 months for iTAA patients and 82.0 months for rTAA patients (P = .853). Mean age was 71.5 years for iTAA patients and 74.8 years for rTAA patients (P = .04). Survival after iTAA repair was 95.9% at 30 days, 91.8% at 90 days, and 62.5% at 5 years. After rTAA repair, survival was 71.4% at 30 days and decreased to 57.1% at 90 days (P < .01), with most deaths after 30 days being related to the aortic event. The 3-year survival rate after rTAA repair was 27.8%, and only one rTAA patient with 5 years of follow-up remained alive. Six aorta-related deaths occurred after 90 days (three iTAA patients, three rTAA patients); five were due to rupture of nontreated aortic segments. The 5-year reintervention rate was 13.2% for iTAA patients and 17.9% for rTAA patients (P = .682). All reinterventions occurred within 14 months of TEVAR. The age-adjusted hazard ratio for long-term mortality was 4.4 after rTAA repair compared with iTAA repair.

CONCLUSIONS: TEVAR for iTAA was associated with low perioperative mortality and acceptable 5-year survival at 62.5%. Results were more pessimistic after rTAA repair, however, for which two-thirds of the patients were deceased at 3-year follow-up. Improved selection of patients is necessary to identify patients who are likely to truly benefit from rTAA repair.