Low Progesterone and Low Estradiol Levels Associate With Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms in Men.

CONTEXT: Male sex is a major risk factor for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) but few studies have addressed associations between sex hormone levels and AAA. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe the associations between serum sex steroids and early, screening-detected AAA in men. METHODS: We validated a high-sensitivity liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry assay for comprehensive serum sex hormone profiling. This assay was then employed in a case-control study including 147 men with AAA (infrarenal aorta ≥ 30 mm) and 251 AAA-free controls recruited at the general population-based ultrasound screening for AAA in 65-year-old Swedish men. OUTCOMES INCLUDED: associations between dehydroepiandrosterone, progesterone, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione, estrone, testosterone, dihydrotestosterone, and estradiol and AAA presence. RESULTS: Dehydroepiandrosterone, progesterone, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, testosterone, and estradiol, but not the other hormones, were lower in men with AAA. In models with adjustments for known AAA risk factors and comorbidity, only progesterone (odds ratio per SD decrease 1.62 [95% CI, 1.18-2.22]) and estradiol (1.40 [95% CI, 1.04-1.87]) remained inversely associated with the presence of AAA. Progesterone and estradiol contributed with independent additive information for prediction of AAA presence; compared with men with high (above median) levels, men with low (below median) levels of both hormones had a 4-fold increased odds ratio for AAA (4.06 [95% CI, 2.25-7.31]). CONCLUSION: Measured by a high-performance sex steroid assay, progesterone and estradiol are inversely associated with AAA in men, independent of known risk factors. Future studies should explore whether progesterone and estradiol, which are important reproductive hormones in women, are protective in human AAA.

Misdiagnosis of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms is common and is associated with increased mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rate of misdiagnosis in the emergency department in patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms (rAAAs), and to investigate how misdiagnosis affects rAAA mortality. METHODS: Data were extracted from the Swedish Cause of Death Registry and the Swedish National Registry for Vascular Surgery from 2010 to 2015. All rAAA patients registered in the health care system in the west of Sweden were identified. Medical charts for rAAA patients were reviewed, and patients who were correctly diagnosed at the first assessment in the emergency department were compared with patients who were misdiagnosed. RESULTS: Altogether, 455 patients with rAAA were identified, including both patients who underwent surgery and those who did not. One hundred seventy-seven (38.9%) were initially misdiagnosed. The mortality rate was 74.6% in patients who were misdiagnosed, as compared with 62.9% in correctly diagnosed patients (P = .01). The adjusted odds ratio for mortality in misdiagnosed patients relative to correctly diagnosed patients was 1.83 (95% confidence interval, 1.13-2.96) (P = .01). When excluding patients offered palliative care (n = 134) after detection of the rAAA, the mortality in initially misdiagnosed patients was 65.1% as compared with 46.4% in correctly diagnosed patients (P = .001). In patients reaching surgical intervention, 37 (45.1%) of the primarily misdiagnosed patients died (30-day or in-hospital mortality) as compared with 63 (38.0%) of the correctly diagnosed (P = .34). CONCLUSIONS: Misdiagnosis is common in patients with rAAA, and it is associated with a substantially higher risk of dying from the ruptured aneurysm.

Routine open abdomen treatment compared with on-demand open abdomen or direct closure following open repair of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms: A propensity score-matched study.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether a strategy of treatment with a primarily open abdomen improves outcome in terms of mortality and major complications in patients treated with open repair for a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm compared to a strategy of primary closure of the abdomen. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: Patients treated with a primarily open abdomen at a centre where this strategy was routine in most ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm patients were compared to a propensity score-matched control group of patients who had the abdomen closed at the end of the primary operation in a majority of the cases. RESULTS: In total, 79 patients treated with a primarily open abdomen after open repair for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm at Sahlgrenska University Hospital were compared to a propensity score-matched control group of 148 patients. The abdomen was closed at the end of the procedure in 108 (73%) of the control patients. There was no difference in 30-day mortality between patients treated with a primarily open abdomen at Sahlgrenska University Hospital and the controls, 21 (26.6%) versus 49 (33.1%), p = 0.37. The adjusted odds ratio for mortality at 30 days was 0.66 (95% confidence interval: 0.35-1.25) in patients treated with a primarily open abdomen at Sahlgrenska University Hospital compared to the controls. No difference was observed between the groups regarding 90-day mortality, postoperative renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy, postoperative intestinal ischaemia necessitating bowel resection or postoperative bleeding requiring reoperation. CONCLUSIONS: The study did not show any survival advantage or difference in major complications between patients treated with a primarily open abdomen after open repair for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm and propensity-matched controls where the abdomen was primarily closed in a majority of the cases.

Deep Femoral Vein Reconstruction of the Abdominal Aorta and Adaptation of the Neo-Aortoiliac System Bypass Technique in an Endovascular Era.

BACKGROUND:: Primary infection of the abdominal aorta is a rare pathology that may threaten the integrity of the aortic wall, while secondary aortic prosthesis infection represents a devastating complication to open surgical and endovascular aortic surgery. Curative treatment is achievable by removal of all infected prosthetic material followed by a vascular reconstruction. DESIGN AND METHODS:: Twelve consecutive patients treated with the neo-aortoiliac system bypass (NAIS) procedure were reviewed. Nine were treated for a secondary aortic prosthesis infection (tube graft n = 3, bifurcated graft n = 4, endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) stent graft n = 1, and fenestrated EVAR [FEVAR] stent graft n = 1), while 3 patients underwent NAIS repair due to an emergent primary mycotic aortoiliac aneurysm. PRIMARY RESULTS:: Ten of 12 patients survived 30 days. Three patients were operated on acutely, and 9 patients had elective or subacute NAIS surgery. Two of 3 patients operated acutely died within 30 days, whereas no 30-day or 1-year mortality was observed in patients undergoing elective or subacute surgery. The median time from primary reconstruction to the NAIS procedure was 11 months (range: 0-201 months). Stent grafts (n = 5 of 12) were in 4 cases explanted using endovascular balloon clamping. Of the explanted endografts, 2 patients presented with a secondary graft infection after EVAR/FEVAR, while 3 patients had been emergently treated with endovascular cuffs as a "bridge-to-surgery" procedure due to aortoenteric fistula (AEF). Patients who received a "bridge-to-surgery" regimen were treated with the NAIS procedure within 8 weeks (median 27 days, range: 27-60) after receiving emergency stent grafting. PRINCIPAL CONCLUSIONS:: Aortic balloon-clamping during explantation of infected aortic prosthetic endografts is feasible and facilitates complete endograft removal. Endovascular bridging procedures could be beneficiary in the treatment of AEF or anastomotic dehiscence due to graft infection, offering a possibility to convert the acute setting to an elective definitive reconstructive procedure with a higher overall success rate.

Outcome of the Swedish Nationwide Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Program.

BACKGROUND: A general abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) screening program, targeting 65-year-old men, has gradually been introduced in Sweden since 2006 and reached nationwide coverage in 2015. The aim of this study was to determine the outcome of this program. METHODS: Data on the number of invited and examined men, screening-detected AAAs, AAAs operated on, and surgical outcome were retrieved from all 21 Swedish counties for the years 2006 through 2014. AAA-specific mortality data were retrieved from the Swedish Cause of Death Registry. A linear regression analysis was used to estimate the effect on AAA-specific mortality among all men ≥65 years of age for the observed time period. The long-term effects were projected by using a validated Markov model. RESULTS: Of 302 957 men aged 65 years invited, 84% attended. The prevalence of screening-detected AAA was 1.5%. After a mean of 4.5 years, 29% of patients with AAA had been operated on, with a 30-day mortality rate of 0.9% (1.3% after open repair and 0.3% after endovascular repair, P<0.001). The introduction of screening was associated with a significant reduction in AAA-specific mortality (mean, 4.0% per year of screening, P=0.020). The number needed to screen and the number needed to operate on to prevent 1 premature death were 667 and 1.5, respectively. With a total population of 9.5 million, the Swedish national AAA-screening program was predicted to annually prevent 90 premature deaths from AAA and to gain 577 quality-adjusted life-years. The incremental cost-efficiency ratio was estimated to be €7770 per quality-adjusted life-years. CONCLUSIONS: Screening 65-year-old men for AAA is an effective preventive health measure and is highly cost-effective in a contemporary setting. These findings confirm the results from earlier randomized controlled trials and model studies in a large population-based setting of the importance for future healthcare decision making.