Anaesthesia for abdominal vascular surgery

Surgery on the abdominal aorta is a major undertaking with a 30-day operative mortality of around 7%. Surgery is indicated to improve claudication in occlusive disease and to protect against aortic rupture in aneurysmal disease. Due to the high incidence of comorbidity in these patients successful outcome requires careful preoperative assessment and meticulous perioperative care. In this article I review the current indications and anaesthetic practices for open and endovascular aneurysm repair.