Midterm outcomes of endovascular treatment for infected aortic aneurysms: Single center experience

The standard treatment of infected aortic aneurysms is open surgical repair but mortality rates remain high with the common cause of death being sepsis. Endovascular treatment of infected aortic aneurysms is another option and here we report the midterm outcomes of endovascular treatment for infected aortic aneurysms.

Thirty-four patients with infected aortic aneurysms underwent endovascular and hybrid repair between December 2012 and June 2021. The patients were evaluated for early and midterm outcomes including postoperative mortality, morbidity, recurrent aortic infection, and midterm survival.

There were 34 patients who presented with infected aortic aneurysms with a mean age of 66.7 years (range, 26-89). Most of the patients presented with abdominal pain (94.1%) and fever (50.0%). The rate of positive blood culture for organisms was 32.4%. Salmonella was the most common organism. The procedures for treatment were endovascular repair using straight endograft, aorto-uni-iliac (AUI) endograft, bifurcated endograft, and thoracic endograft. Other procedures were endovascular repair with sandwich technique, chimney or periscope technique, and hybrid operation. The rate of in-hospital mortality and morbidity were 11.8% and 17.6%, respectively. Mean follow-up time was 21 months (range, 1-70). During the follow-up period, 7 (23.3%) patients had recurrent infection of aortic aneurysms and 5 patients required reoperation. Four patients died from septicemia and one patient died from cardiac disease. Male patients were more likely to have recurrent infection compared to females. The cumulative survival at 1 year and 2 years were 86.3% and 80.5%, respectively.

In this retrospective review of the endovascular treatment in the patients who presented with infected aortic aneurysms showed acceptable early and midterm outcomes.