Total laparoscopic bypass is safe and effective for aortoiliac occlusive disease

[Robotic-assisted operations for pathology of the aortoiliac segment: own experience]

AIM

The present study was aimed at assessing the results of a total of 40 vascular operations carried out using the robotic-assisted da Vinci surgical system.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Between January 2013 and September 2019, a total of 40 robotic-assisted vascular operations were performed at the Department of Vascular Pathology and Hybrid Technologies of the Centre of Vascular and Hybrid Surgery. Of these, 31 interventions were carried out for occlusion of the aortoiliac segment and 9 for removal of an aneurysm of the infrarenal portion of the abdominal aorta. The patients were arbitrarily divided into 2 groups: the first group included those subjected to aortofemoral bypass grafting procedures for atherosclerotic steno-occlusive lesions of the aorta and iliac arteries, whereas the second group comprised the patients who underwent aneurysmoectomies with linear prosthetic repair of the abdominal aorta.

RESULTS

Altogether, elective robotic-assisted operations were successfully performed in 38 (95%) cases. Conversion to a laparotomic approach was required in 2 (5%) patients. The mean time of creating an anastomosis with the abdominal aorta amounted to 51 minutes (range 30-90), being 42±4.75 min for aortofemoral bypass grafting and 83±5.00 min for aneurysmoectomies with linear prosthetic repair of the abdominal artery. The average blood loss was 316 (range 50-1000) ml, amounting to 280±209 ml and 438±322 ml for group I and group II, respectively. With the exception of one case, all patients spent 24 hours in the intensive care unit to be then transferred to the specialized ward. The average length of hospital stay amounted to 9.8 days. One patient experienced haemorrhage from the central anastomosis in the early postoperative period and was emergently operated on from a laparotomic approach. Four (10%) patients developed nonlethal complications which were treated conservatively. During the 30-day follow-up period, no lethal outcomes, thromboses, nor infections of the prostheses were observed.

CONCLUSION

From a practical point of view, the major advantages of using the robotic-assisted complex include minimal surgical trauma, reduced blood loss, a wide range of high-precision movements of the manipulators, 3-D visualization with a 5-fold magnification, thus making it possible to create a vascular anastomosis sufficiently fast in very tight spaces in the body. Our experience with laparoscopic robotic-assisted surgery demonstrated feasibility of using this technique for treatment of pathology of the aortoiliac segment.

Do Surgical Site Infections in Open Aortoiliac Surgery Differ Between Occlusive and Aneurysmal Arterial Disease?

Background:

Surgical site infections (SSI) are frequently seen after aortoiliac vascular surgery (2%-14%). Deep SSIs are associated with graft infection, sepsis, and mortality. This study evaluates the difference in incidence and nature of SSI following open aortoiliac surgery for aneurysmal disease compared to occlusive arterial disease.

Methods:

A retrospective cohort study was conducted, including all consecutive patients who underwent open aortoiliac vascular surgery between January 2005 and December 2016 in the Amphia Hospital, Breda, the Netherlands. Patients were grouped by disease type, either aneurysmal or occlusive arterial disease. Data were gathered, including patient characteristics, potential risk factors, and development of SSI. Surgical site infections were defined in accordance with the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control.

Results:

Between January 2005 and December 2016, a total of 756 patients underwent open aortoiliac surgery of which 517 had aortoiliac aneurysms and 225 had aortoiliac occlusive disease. The group with occlusive disease was younger, predominantly male, and had more smokers. After exclusion of 228 patients undergoing acute surgery, the SSI rate after elective surgery was 6.2%, with 10 of 301 SSIs in the aneurysmal group (3.0%) and 22 of 213 SSIs in the group with occlusive disease (10.3%, P < .001). Also, infection-related readmission and reintervention were higher after occlusive surgery, 6.6% versus 0.9% ( P < .001) and 4.2% versus 0.9% ( P = .003), respectively. Staphylococcus aureus was found as the most common pathogen, causing 64% of SSI in occlusive disease versus 10% in aneurysmal disease ( P = .005). Logistic regression showed occlusive arterial disease and chronic renal disease were associated with SSI.

Conclusion:

Our study presents evidence for a higher rate of SSI in patients with aortoiliac occlusive disease compared to aortoiliac aneurysmal disease, in part due to inherent use of inguinal incision in patients with occlusive disease. All precautions to prevent SSI should be taken in patients undergoing vascular surgery for arterial occlusive disease.

Totally laparoscopic aortobifemoral bypass surgery in the treatment of aortoiliac occlusive disease or abdominal aortic aneurysms - a systematic review and critical appraisal of literature

PURPOSE

This systematic review aims to evaluate the published literature regarding totally laparoscopic aortobifemoral bypass (LABF) surgery in the treatment of aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) or abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA), compared with open aortobifemoral bypass surgery.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A systematic review of the medical literature between 1990 and 2016 was performed, searching the medical databases Cochrane Library, OVID Medline, Embase and PubMed. Studies concerning totally LABF with or without control group and containing more than 10 patients were included in the analysis. Operative and aortic cross-clamping times, blood loss, rate of conversion to open surgery, mortality and morbidity within the first 30 postoperative days, hospital stay and primary and secondary patency of the graft were extracted and compared with open surgery when possible.

RESULTS

Sixty-six studies were deemed eligible for inclusion in this review, 16 of them matched the inclusion criteria for quantitative synthesis. The patient material consisted of 588 patients undergoing totally LABF, 22 due to AAA, and the remaining 566 for AIOD. Five comparative studies regarding AIOD compared 211 totally LABF procedures with 246 open procedures. Only one study concerning AAA was eligible for inclusion, and this study did not provide a comparison against an open group. The operating and aortic cross-clamping times were shorter in the open group. Conversion rates ranged from 0% to 27%. There was no statistically significant difference in mortality between the two groups (p=0.64). Hospital stays ranged from 4.0 to 12.1 and 5.0 to 12.8 days in the laparoscopic group and open group, respectively. Most of the studies provided low levels of evidence, mainly due to lack of blinding, randomization and correction of bias.

CONCLUSION

Totally laparoscopic aortoiliac surgery seems to be a feasible technique with unaffected mortality and trend toward benefits in hospital stay and possibly also in complication rates. The literature published this far is sparse and with inconsistent results. More randomized controlled trials are required before this method can be widely implemented.