Long-term Outcomes of the Endurant and Excluder Stent Grafts for Endovascular Aneurysm Repair in a Japanese Cohort

PURPOSE

To compare the long-term outcomes of the most widely used third-generation stent grafts, the Endurant and Excluder stent grafts, in Japanese patients using a multicenter registry.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective analysis of endovascular aneurysm repairs for abdominal aortic and iliac artery aneurysms using either the Endurant or the Excluder stent grafts from January 2012 to July 2019 at 10 Japanese hospitals was performed.

RESULTS

A total of 332 and 378 repairs using the Endurant and Excluder stent grafts, respectively, were analyzed. Although the patients' characteristics were generally similar in the two groups, the Endurant group exhibited significantly shorter (Endurant: 31.5±18.6 mm, Excluder: 37.4±21.0 mm; p<0.001), larger (Endurant: 22.4±4.2 mm, Excluder: 21.7±3.8 mm; p=0.029), and more reversed tapered (Endurant: 12.1%, Excluder: 5.8%; p=0.003) proximal necks. The incidence of instructions for use (IFU) violations was similar between the two groups (Endurant: 59.0%, Excluder: 54.5%; p=0.223). However, the Endurant group had significantly more proximal neck-related IFU violations (54.1% and 46.3%, respectively; p=0.039), more access-related IFU violations (8.1% and 4.0%, respectively; p=0.019), and fewer bilateral hypogastric artery embolizations (5.1% and 9.3%, respectively; p=0.035) compared with the Excluder group. The incidence of intraoperative (Endurant: 3.6%, Excluder: 3.7%; p=0.950) and perioperative complications (Endurant: 3.6%, Excluder: 3.4%, p=0.899) was equivalent in the two groups. However, there was a significantly higher incidence of postoperative type II endoleaks in the Excluder group (Endurant: 28%, Excluder: 46.0%, p<0.001). Aneurysm sac regression was more frequent in the Endurant group (Endurant: 40.7%, Excluder: 31.7%, p=0.013). The Endurant group also had significantly higher rates of sac increase (Endurant: 13.0%, Excluder: 7.7%, p=0.020). Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank analyses revealed no statistical differences in late complications (p=0.868) and overall survival (p=0.926).

CONCLUSIONS

There were no statistically significant differences between the Endurant and the Excluder stent grafts in terms of intraoperative, perioperative, and late complication rates; however, the anatomical characteristics of the patients were significantly different.

Five Year Patient Outcomes of Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in the ENDURANT France Registry

OBJECTIVE

Endovascular repair is the preferred method of treatment for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms with numerous publications from multiple geographic regions showing excellent patient outcomes. Since the original ACE (Anevrysme de l'aorte abdominale: Chirurgie versus Endoprothese) randomised control trial, studies of French specific population have also contributed significantly to the body of evidence in support of endovascular abdominal aortic repair.

METHODS

In the ENDURANT France registry, 180 patients were consecutively enrolled from 20 French centres starting in 2012. Investigational sites included public and private practice and differing centre volumes to be as representative of real world French experience as possible. The aim of this study was to present the five year outcomes from this registry.

RESULTS

Instructions for use (IFU) were respected in 97.8% (176/180) of patients. At five years, the Kaplan-Meier overall survival was 69.9% ± 3.5% and the freedom from aneurysm related death was 97.6% ± 1.2%. The freedom from Type IA endoleaks was 94.5% ± 1.7%, freedom from endoleaks of any type was 70.1 ± 3.4%, and freedom from secondary endovascular procedure 90.4% ± 2.6%. In addition, 61.6% (45/73) of patients exhibited sac shrinkage at five years.

CONCLUSION

In this five year report of the Endurant France registry, survival, re-intervention, and freedom from endoleak rates were comparable to recent EVAR registries and there was a high sac shrinkage rate. Secondary procedure and aneurysm rupture were lower than those of ACE, the French RCT which included older generation devices. This prospective registry demonstrates favourable five year outcomes of the Endurant stent graft used within IFU.