This study states that The current Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) guidelines, based on randomized controlled trials published more than a decade ago, recommend a minimum threshold diameter of 5.5 cm for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (iAAA) repair. It is unknown whether practice patterns with respect to size of repair have changed since the publication of these guidelines. We aimed to evaluate the real-world practice of vascular surgeons in our region with respect to iAAA size at the time of repair, whether this has changed over the past 12 years and if any changes were associated with the repair type, open vs endovascular.
The Vascular Study Group of New England (VSGNE) database was used to identify all patients who received iAAA repair between 2003 and 2015. The primary end point was to quantify the annual percentage of iAAAs repaired in different size categories. Despite the SVS guidelines suggesting surveillance rather than repair of iAAA <5.5 cm, an increasing proportion of repairs in the VSGNE database were performed below that threshold. The reasons for this are likely multifactorial and might include a lesser complexity and lower operative mortality for smaller aneurysms and markedly improved third- and fourth-generation stent graft technology with possibly better long-term survival.
Reference link- https://www.jvascsurg.org/article/S0741-5214(20)32001-2/fulltext
