Long-Term Survival Following Abdominal Aortic Aneurysmectomy

Long-term results of resection of unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms confirm the value of this operation. The conditions of 240 such patients from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania were followed up for a minimum of three years. Since the operative mortality has been consistently falling, the early high mortality figures unrealistically lower present long-term survival. Therefore, data including and excluding operative mortality were studied. For the entire series, the five- and ten-year survivals were 54% and 22%. For the 217 operative survivors, the percentages were 61% and 25%. These results appear to show a nearly doubled life expectancy of patients subjected to operation when compared to those not operated upon.