Stress Testing Before Elective Surgery for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Across more than 300 medical centers, use of stress testing was highly variable and not associated with better outcomes.

The value of cardiac stress testing before noncardiac surgery is unclear; there is little hard evidence to show that stress testing improves perioperative outcomes. In this study, researchers used a North American registry (i.e., Vascular Quality Initiative; VQI) to shed light on preoperative stress testing before elective surgery for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in 324 centers; 43,000 patients had endovascular repair, and 9000 had open repair.

Findings were as follows:

Variation in use of stress testing before AAA repair was striking, ranging from ≈10% to ≈80% of patients across participating centers.
Mean cardiac risk scores (according to the VQI risk index) were similar in patients who underwent stress testing and those who did not.
With …

Reviewing Author

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Stress Testing Before Elective Surgery for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

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Reviewing Author