Myocardial damage in high-risk patients undergoing elective endovascular or open infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair

Objective. Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) provides an objective assessment of the presence and extent of coronary artery disease. Therefore we compared cardiac outcome in patients at high-cardiac risk undergoing open or endovascular repair of infrarenal AAA using preoperative DSE results. Methods. Consecutive patients with >= 3 cardiac risk factors (age > 70 years, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, heart failure, stroke, renal failure, and diabetes mellitus) undergoing infrarenal AAA repair were reviewed retrospectively. All underwent cardiac stress testing using DSE. Postoperatively data on troponin release and ECG were collected on day 1, 3, 7, before discharge, and on day 30. The main outcome measures were perioperative myocardial damage and myocardial infarction or cardiovascular death. Results. All 77 patients (39 endovascular, 38 open) had a history of cardiac disease. The number and type of cardiac risk factors were similar in both groups. Also DSE results were similar: 55 vs 56%, 24 vs 28%, and 21 vs 18% had no, limited, or extensive stress induced myocardial ischernia respectively. The incidence of perioperative myocardial damage (47% vs 13%, p = 0.001) and the combination of myocardial infarction or cardiovascular death (13% vs 0%, p = 0.02) was significantly lower in patients receiving endovascular repair. Conclusion. In patients with similar high cardiac risk, endovascular repair of infrarenal aortic aneurysms is associated with a reduced incidence of perioperative myocardial damage.