Is preoperative cardiac evaluation for abdominal aortic aneurysm repair necessary?

It is reported that 25% to 50% of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) have severe coronary artery disease (CAD) and should undergo an aggressive cardiac workup before AAA repair. In contrast, it has been our policy that patients referred for AAA repairs undergo no cardiac testing before surgery.

This report reviews the last 113 consecutive patients who underwent elective AAA repair by the senior author using this policy. Seventy-four patients (group A) had only an electrocardiogram before surgery. The remaining 39 patients (group B) were referred having already had additional testing that included a thallium stress test (n = 20), echocardiogram (n = 18), multiple gated acquisition (MUGA) scan (n = 3), cardiac catheterization (n = 8), or some combination of these.

There was no statistical difference between group A and group B with regard to age, sex, tobacco use or history of coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke (CVA), hypertension, peripheral vascular disease, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Group B more commonly had a history of myocardial infarction (41% vs 19%, p < 0.03) and congestive heart failure (23% vs 7%, p < 0.03). During surgery there was no significant differences in blood loss, transfusion requirements, or operative times. There were no myocardial infarctions in group A and two (5.1%) in group B, which was not significantly different. Other complications, such as CVA, renal failure, pulmonary failure, pneumonia, wound infection, and hemorrhage, were not significantly different between the two groups. Postoperative hospital stay was not significantly different. There were three deaths in the entire series (2.7%), and only one in group B was cardiac-related in a patient with known end-stage cardiac disease and a symptomatic 8 cm AAA.

These data indicate that most patients with AAA can safely undergo repair with no cardiac workup and that cardiac workup before AAA repair contributes little information that impacts on treatment or final clinical outcome. We conclude that cardiac testing in preparation for AAA repair is not usually necessary and that intraoperative hemodynamic management may be the most important variable in determining outcome.