Open abdominal management after ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm repair: from a single-center study in Japan

We investigated the utility of the open abdominal management (OA) technique for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA).

Between January 2016 and August 2021, 33 patients underwent open surgery for rAAA at our institution. The patients were divided into OA (n = 12) and non-OA (n = 21) groups. We compared preoperative characteristics, operative data, and postoperative outcomes between the two groups. The intensive care unit management and abdominal wall closure statuses of the OA group were evaluated.

The OA group included significantly more cases of a preoperative shock than the non-OA group. The operation time was also significantly longer in the OA group than in the non-OA group. The need for intraoperative fluids, amount of bleeding, and need for blood transfusion were significantly higher in the OA group than in the non-OA group. Negative pressure therapy (NPT) systems are useful in OA. In five of the six survivors in the OA group, abdominal closure was able to be achieved using components separation (CS) technique.

NPT and the CS technique may increase the abdominal wall closure rate in rAAA surgery using OA and are expected to improve outcomes.