Background.Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is increasingly used and become the standard treatment option for AAA. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the outcomes and predictors of survival of endovascular treatment of AAA at the short and medium-term. Methods.A total of 222 patients having endovascular AAA repair between January 2013 and December 2019 by the same surgical team were included in the study. Patient demographics, perioperative and follow-up data including mortality,complications and need for secondary intervention were collected.Primary endpoint was all-cause mortality.Kaplan-Meier analysis was conducted for survival and Cox regression models were assessed for predictors of survival. Results. Median age was 70 years with male predominance(202 patients,91%). Thirty-day mortality was 1.8%. Median follow-up to the primary endpoint was 20 months(range,1 to 80 months). Survival rates at one, three and five years were 93.5%,81.4% and 62.2% respectively. Freedom from secondary intervention rates were 95.5% at one year,88.7% at three years and 82.1% at five years. Cox proportional hazard models showed that preoperative creatinine levels ≥1.8 mg/dl(hazard ratio (HR) 2.68, 95%CI1.21-6.42, p=0.027), hemoglobin levels <10 gr/dl (HR 3.38 95%CI 1.16-9.90,p=0.026), ejection fraction < 30% (HR 5.67,95%CI1.29-24.86,p=0.021)and AAA diamete≥6.0 cm(HR 2.20,95%CI1.01-4.81,p=0.049)were independently associated with mid-term survival. Conclusion.EVAR is a safe procedure with low postoperative morbidity and mortality. This study confirms that the mid-term survival and results are favorable.However, the analyzed factors in this study that predict reduced survival(high preoperative creatinine,ow hemoglobin,low ejection fraction and larger aneurysms) should be judged when planning EVAR.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a remarkably challenging health issue that provoked all the health-care providers to contemplate some measures about the situation. All the health-care workers frontline (esp. emergency service, pulmonologists, infection disease specialist and anesthesiologist) have produced recommendations on prevention and taking care of COVID-19 patient (1,2). Whereas, at the second line another important issue is the ongoing healthcare for the continual disease situations.There are two main critical issues on cardiovascular surgery in this pandemic. Firstly, to delay the elective surgeries is essential to sustain the health-care service. Elective case triage is trickier for cardiovascular procedures which are relatively progressive conditions. Definitive decision to defer a procedure should be made regarding firstly to the capacity of health-care system, and then availability of surgical/anesthesia staff, intensive care unit beds, need for isolation beds, ventilators, cardiopulmonary bypass machine, extracorporeal membrane oxygenator, supplies such as sutures, grafts, valves and blood and blood product availability. The patient status should be taken into account to defer or to perform the procedure, as well. Therefore, we developed “Level of Priority” (LoP) statement for cardiovascular procedures (3). Elective cases are defined as LoP I that may be postponed as much as possible. LoP II to IV cases should be reconsidered by individual basis by “Heart Team”. The situations that can be managed by percutaneous coronary intervention, endovascular procedures and etc. may be handled by non-operative manners.The second one is the personal protection equipment and infection measures while dealing with a suspected / confirmed COVID-19 patient. It is obvious that a suspected / confirmed COVID-19 patient ought to be assessed with specific measures for any medical or surgical intervention. Personal protection equipment (PPE) is the most crucial measure during the pandemic. It is recognized that many centers are facing PPE shortages and there are recommendations to re-sterile the masks to be effective for reuse.(4) More measures should be taken into consideration for sterile environment such as surgical procedures. Some added measures such as face shield may be recommended for surgical procedures. The surgical team who scrubbed in, must wear extra equipment such as surgical coat and double gloves. It may be recommended to fix the long-sleeve gloves to the surgical coat by adhesive drapes (3). It is obvious that this kind of working environment with all this equipment is challenging, sometimes irritating and disquieting. One other big problem is the fraught feeling of health-care providers to be diseased or to be contagious for their family. Therefore, health-care providers may need enormous support for burnouts during the pandemic.The other measures such as preparation of the operating room (OR), anesthesiologic management, transportation of patients and disinfection of OR were discussed in the referring article (3).In conclusion, it is important to assess the “Level of Priority” for surgical procedures to support the service of health-care facility. More than that, whole surgical team should be protected by adequate PPE and should take the time to get full protected.