Quality of life endovascular and open AAA repair. Results of a randomised trial

To compare the quality of life (QoL) in the first postoperative year after elective endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) and open repair (OR) in a randomised study.

In the Dutch Randomised Endovascular Aneurysm Management (DREAM) trial, patients are randomly allocated to EVAR or OR. QoL questionnaires (SF-36 and EuroQoL-5D) were sent to all patients preoperatively (PREOP) and at five time points in the first postoperative year (3W, 6W, 3M, 6M and 12M). Between November 1999 and August 2002, 153 patients (141 male; 12 female) were randomised (78 EVAR and 75 OR; one crossover from OR to EVAR). The EuroQoL-5D scores and the eight domains of the SF-36 for the two groups were compared using the Mann-Whitney test. Changes over time were analysed using the Wilcoxon sign test.

There were no statistically significant differences in baseline characteristics (age, gender and SVS risk factors). The preoperative QoL scores of the study group were similar to the QoL scores of the general population of the same age. After 3W the OR group showed a significant decrease on the EuroQol-5D (p=0.022) and in six of the eight SF-36 domains. The EVAR group also showed a significant decrease on the EuroQol-5D (p=0.004) and in 5 of the 8 domains of the SF-36. At 6W the EuroQol-5D had recovered to baseline in the OR group and the decreased domains of the SF-36 had partially recovered. In the EVAR group the EuroQol-5D and three of the five decreased SF-36 domains, had returned to baseline. From 6M on, the OR group reported a significantly higher score on the EuroQoL-5D than the EVAR group (p=0.045 (6M) and p=0.001 (12M)).

In the early postoperative period there is a small, yet significant QoL advantage for EVAR compared to OR. At 6 months and beyond, patients reported better QoL after OR than after EVAR.