Early Complications in Patients Undergoing Elective Open Surgery for Infrarenal Aortic Aneurysms

OBJECTIVE: To assess the type and frequency of early postoperative complications in patients after open surgical infrarenal aneurysms repair and determination of their risk factors. STUDY DESIGN: An observational study Place and Duration of Study: The 4th Military Teaching Hospital in Wroclaw, Poland, from January 2012 to December 2016. METHODOLOGY: Analyses of medical records of 205 patients treated for infrarenal aneurysm with open surgery. Patients with clinical and radiological features of aneurysm rupture were excluded. Complications and early deaths (80 mm in 22 (10.7%). Aortic prostheses (tube grafts) were implanted in 132 (64.4%) of patients and aorto-bifemoral (bifurcated) grafts in 73 (35.6%). The most common postoperative complications were: reoperation necessity (n=23; 11.2%), respiratory failure (n=21; 10.2%), respiratory tract infection (n=14; 6.8%), circulatory failure (n=14; 6.8%), lower limb ischemia (n=13; 6.3%), kidney failure (n=12; 5.9%), death (n=9; 4.4%), and surgical wound infection (n=9; 4.4%). Statistical analysis indicated intraoperative blood loss, duration of surgery, a larger aneurysm diameter, and diabetes as risk factors for early complications. CONCLUSION: Complications were the same as reported from other centres. There is a need to shorten surgery duration and minimise blood loss, as these modifiable factors were the predictors of early complications.