Mortality rates for approximately 5,000 patients each year undergoing a major form of artery surgery have fallen by as much as two thirds in four years (from 7.9% to 2.4%), according to the first UK-wide audit of elective Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) repair.
Published by the Vascular Society, the report shows that there is considerable variation in the number of cases treated between hospitals. Hospitals with higher volumes of patients have better outcomes, with death rates half that of the lowest volume hospitals, suggesting that elective AAA surgery should be provided in fewer, specialist units. The National Vascular Database (NVD) audit, which reports patient mortality rates for more than 8,000 operations from October 2008 to September 2010, indicates that UK AAA surgery now meets national targets set by the National Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme. The Vascular Society believes this improvement has been driven by complex vascular surgery being carried out by specialists and an ongoing reorganisation into fewer, specialist, units. The full report is available from: www.vascularsociety.org.uk
