Surgical management of abdominal aortic aneurysms: factors influencing mortality and morbidity--a 20-year experience.

Abdominal aortic aneurysmectomy is being performed with progressively lower operative mortality and morbidity. Three hundred thirty seven patients have had elective aneurysm repair since 1954. Factors affecting mortality and morbidity in the last 108 cases are analyzed. Seventy-four per cent of patients had pre-existing disease, either cardiac, pulmonary, renal, cerebrovascular, diabetes mellitus, or hypertension. Six patients died following operation, a mortality rate of 5.5%. One died of pulmonary and 5 of cardiac causes. No patient died of renal failure or required dialysis. A signficant feature of management is the regimen of fluid therapy using dextrose in lactated Ringer's solution during and after operation to minimize hypotensive and renal complications. No patient developed a wound infection, graft infection, wound dehiscence, stroke, or intestinal ischemia. Serious postoperative complications were largely cardiac or pulmonary. Despite recent liberalization of indications for operation, comparative figures show continued reduction in operative mortality from 17% during 1954-1961, or 7.4% during 1962-1967, to 5.5% in the 1968-1974 era. This declining mortality is related to earlier diagnosis using non-invasive methods (sonogram), simplified operative techniques, improvement in fluid management, innovations in cardiopulmonary therapy, and recognition and proper handling of unusual manifestations of aortic aneurysms.