Gender, racial and ethnic disparities in index hospitalization operations for symptomatic carotid stenosis in Texas hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Recent literature and societal recommendations support early revascularization of symptomatic carotid patients over the traditional six-week period. Nonetheless, the timing of these interventions can vary widely among populations. The goal of this study is to identify any factors influencing carotid revascularization during the index hospitalization for patients with symptomatic disease. METHODS: The Texas Department of State Health Services database was queried to identify all patients > 45 years old admitted to nonfederal Texas Hospitals between 2009 to 2013 with an admission diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis and either transient ischemic attack (TIA), cerebrovascular accident (CVA), or amaurosis fugax. Diagnoses codes and demographic data were also used to adjust for clinical, social, and demographic factors (including area of residence and treatment). Descriptive statistics and multivariable logistic regression were used to identify significant factors for index admission revascularization. RESULTS: A total of 29,046 symptomatic patients were identified among the 153,484 patients who had an eligible admission diagnosis. This included 16,244 (55.9%) males and 12,802 (44.1%) females. Only 4,594 (15.8%) patients were revascularized during the index hospitalization. The majority of these patients presented with amaurosis (OR 5.58; 95% CI 4.84-6.44) instead of CVAs (OR 0.48; 95% CI 0.45-0.51) or TIAs . Adjusting for hospital volume, insurance coverage, residence, and other clinical factors, rates of index admission carotid intervention remained significantly lower for women (OR 0.85; 95% CI 0.79-0.91), persons categorized as black (OR 0.60; 95% CI 0.53-0.69), and persons categorized as Hispanic (OR 0.77; 95% CI 0.70-0.86). CONCLUSIONS: Gender, race and ethnicity appear to correlate with rates of carotid intervention at index hospitalization despite thorough risk adjustment for clinical, social and demographic factors. Efforts should be directed towards reducing these disparities.

The role of the inferior mesenteric artery in predicting secondary intervention for type II endoleak following endovascular aneurysm repair.

OBJECTIVE: Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is associated with a greater risk of graft-related complications and need for secondary interventions compared with open repair. Type II endoleak (EL-2) is the most common complication. We examined the hypothesis that a functionally occluded inferior mesenteric artery (IMA) before EVAR was associated with fewer secondary interventions for EL-2. METHODS: All nonruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) treated by EVAR using U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved endografts from January 2005 to December 2017 were retrospectively reviewed, including computed tomography angiograms. Preoperative patency of the IMA and any secondary interventions performed after the index EVAR procedure were recorded. A functionally occluded IMA was defined as one that was (1) chronically occluded or severely stenosed on preoperative imaging or (2) coil embolized before EVAR. Secondary interventions for persistent EL-2 were indicated when AAA sac diameter increased by more than 5 mm. RESULTS: The study cohort comprised 490 patients (84 women) with a mean age of 74.8 ± 8.2 years. The mean preoperative AAA diameter was 5.6 ± 0.9 cm. One hundred twenty-nine patients (26.3%) died during follow-up. The mean follow-up of survivors was 38 months. Types (prevalence) of endoleak were I (2.4%), II (18.9%), III (0.7%), IV (0.5%), and V (0.2%). Patients with a functionally occluded IMA underwent significantly fewer secondary interventions for EL-2 compared with patients with a patent IMA (2.6% vs 7.1%; P = .020). All secondary interventions in the functionally occluded IMA group involved the lumbar arteries (LA). When the IMA was patent, secondary interventions were equally distributed between the LA and IMA. Logistic regression confirmed that a functionally patent IMA was associated with a greater number of secondary interventions for EL-2 (odds ratio, 3.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.2-7.5; P = .025). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with a functionally occluded IMA required significantly fewer secondary interventions for EL-2 after EVAR. In addition, the type of vessels intervened on were primarily LA. Among patients with a patent IMA, preoperative coil embolization may decrease secondary interventions and improve the long-term durability of EVAR.