Endovascular stent-graft treatment for thoracic aortic aneurysms: Short- to midterm results

PURPOSE: To evaluate short- and midterm results of the endovascular repair of thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) with the use of custom-made stent-grafts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between May 1997 and May 2003,40 patients with TAA (26 degenerative/atherosclerotic, seven dissection-related, three traumatic, two mycotic, one anastomotic, and one penetrating ulcer) underwent endovascular stent-graft placement. The mean age of the patients (29 male and 11 female) was 67.2 years. Twenty-four of the 40 patients (60%) were judged not to be good candidates for conventional open repair. Stent-graft placement was performed in the angiography suite with general anesthesia and transient cardiac arrest or induced hypotension. Custom-made stent-grafts were used in all patients. Four of the 40 patients (10%) underwent preliminary extra-anatomic bypass surgery to provide a sufficiently long landing zone. The mean follow-up period was 16.7 months (range, 1-65 months). RESULTS: The technical success rate was 97.5% and the early mortality rate was 2.5% (one out of 40 patients). There were four late deaths (two procedure-related). Survival rates were 84.2%+/- 6.6% at 1 year and 84.2%+/- 6.6% at 2 years. Survival rates were not significantly different between surgical candidates and non-surgical candidates (P = .423). Intraprocedural complications included access artery complications in nine patients and bleeding in three patients. Postoperative complications included early aneurysmal expansion in one patient, pneumonia in one patient, wound infection in one patient, stroke in three patients, paraplegia in one patient, respiratory insufficiency in two patients, aortoesophageal fistula in one patient, and late aneurysmal expansion in three patients. The rates of freedom from first additional intervention were 91.0%+/- 6.7% at 1 year and 74.5%+/- 11.9% at 2 years. The rates of freedom from second additional intervention was 100% at 2 years. The rates of freedom from treatment failure were 84.7%+/- 7.6% at 1 year and 69.3%+/- 11.6% at 2 years. CONCLUSION: Endovascular repair of TAA with a custom-made stent-graft is a safe and effective alternative to open repair and continues to play an important role. However, careful follow-up is mandatory to manage complications.