Surgical treatment of pararenal aortic aneurysms in the elderly

AIM: Until fenestrated endografts will become the standard treatment of pararenal aortic aneurysms, open surgical repair will currently be employed for the repair of this condition. Suprarenal aortic control and larger surgical dissection represent additional technical requirements for the treatment of pararenal aneurysms compared to those of open infrarenal aortic aneurysms, which may be followed by an increased operative mortality and morbidity rate. As this may be especially true when dealing with pararenal aneurysms in an elderly patients' population, we decided to retrospectively review our results of open pararenal aortic aneurysm repair in elderly patients, in order to compare them with those reported in the literature. METHODS: Twenty-one patients over 75 years of age were operated on for pararenal aortic aneurysms in a ten-year period. Exposure of the aorta was obtained by means of a retroperitoneal access, through a left flank incision on the eleventh rib. When dealing with interrenal aortic aneurysm the left renal artery was revascularized with a retrograde bypass arising from the aortic graft, proximally bevelled on the ostium of the right renal artery. RESULTS: Two patients died of acute intestinal ischemia, yielding a postoperative mortality of 9.5%. Nonfatal complications included 2 pleural effusions, a transitory rise in postoperative serum creatinine levels in 3 cases, and one retroperitoneal hematoma. Mean renal ischemia time was 23 min, whereas mean visceral ischemia time was 19 min. Mean inhospital stay was 11 days. CONCLUSION: Pararenal aortic aneurysms in the elderly can be surgically repaired with results that are similar to those obtained in younger patients.