Trends in the incidence, surgical management and outcomes of type B aortic dissections in Australia over the last decade.

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the incidence and in-hospital outcomes of surgical repair for type B aortic dissection (TBAD) in Australia.
Methods: Data were obtained from the Australasian Vascular Audit (AVA) and the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW). The former is a total practice audit mandated for all members of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Vascular Surgery (ANZSVS) while the latter is an independent government agency which records all healthcare data in Australia. All cases of TBAD which underwent surgical intervention (endovascular or open repair) between 2010 and 2019 were identified using prospectively recorded data from the AVA (New Zealand data was excluded). The primary outcomes were temporal trends in procedures and hospital mortality; secondary outcomes were complications and risk factors for mortality. All admissions and procedures for, and hospital deaths from, TBAD in Australia were identified in AIHW datasets using the relevant diagnosis and procedure codes, with age-standardized rates calculated for the period 2000-01 to 2018-19.
Results: A total of 567 cases of TBAD underwent vascular surgical intervention (AVA data, Australia). Of these, 96.3% were treated by endovascular repair. There was an increase in the annual procedure number from 45 in 2010 to 88 in 2019. In-hospital mortality was 4.8% for endovascular repair and 19% for open repair ( p = 0.021). From 2000-01 to 2018-19, the age-standardized procedure rates for TBAD (Australia) doubled, the proportion of admitted patients undergoing a procedure rose from 28% to 43%, and in-hospital deaths fell by 25%.
Conclusion: There has been an increasing incidence of vascular surgical intervention for TBAD in Australia. The majority of patients received endovascular therapy while the mortality from surgically managed TBAD appears to be falling.
Competing Interests: Declaration of conflicting interestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.