Mortality and major postoperative complications within 1 year after vascular surgery: a prospective cohort study

Patients undergoing vascular procedures are prone to developing postoperative complications affecting their short‑term mortality. Prospective reports describing the incidence of long‑term complications after vascular surgery are lacking.

We aimed to describe the incidence of complications 1 year after vascular surgery and to evaluate an association between myocardial injury after noncardiac surgery (MINS) and 1‑year mortality.

This is a substudy of a large prospective cohort study Vascular Events in Noncardiac Surgery Patients Cohort Evaluation (VISION). Recruitment took place in 28 centers across 14 countries from August 2007 to November 2013. We enrolled patients aged 45 years or older undergoing vascular surgery, receiving general or regional anesthesia, and hospitalized for at least 1 night postoperatively. Plasma cardiac troponin T concentration was measured before the surgery and on the first, second, and third postoperative day. The patients or their relatives were contacted 1 year after the procedure to assess the incidence of major postoperative complications.

We enrolled 2641 patients who underwent vascular surgery, 2534 (95.9%) of whom completed 1‑year follow‑up. Their mean (SD) age was 68.2 (9.8) years, and the cohort was predominantly male (77.5%). The most frequent 1‑year complications were myocardial infarction (224/2534, 8.8%), amputation (187/2534, 7.4%), and congestive heart failure (67/2534, 2.6%). The 1‑year mortality rate was 8.8% (223/2534). MINS occurred in 633 patients (24%) and was associated with an increased 1‑year mortality (hazard ratio, 2.82; 95% CI, 2.14-3.72; P <0.001).

The incidence of major postoperative complications after vascular surgery is high. The occurrence of MINS is associated with a nearly 3‑fold increase in 1‑year mortality.