Impact of two different cardiac work-up strategies in patients undergoing abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Although in the last two decades endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) has evolved as an alternative to the traditional open surgical approach in order to reduce perioperative cardiac mortality, vascular surgery is still associated with a high risk of cardiac complications and long-term survival does not seem to be influenced by the surgical technique, but by the underlying cardiac disease. Indeed EVAR does not yet offer a long-term advantage over open repair, particularly among older patients, for whom a greater benefit has been expected.