ENDOVASCULAR REPAIR OF ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2003 August;44(4):511-8

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Selecting stent grafts for the endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms

Faries P. L., Bernheim J., Kilaru S., Hollenbeck S., Clair D., Kent K. C.

Division of Vascular Surgery New York-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical School Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons New York, NY, USA

Minimally inva­sive endo­vas­cu­lar tech­niques ­for ­the treat­ment of abdom­i­nal aor­tic aneu­rysms (­AAA) ­have sig­nif­i­cant­ly ­reduced ­the mor­bid­ity of ­these pro­ce­dures as com­pared ­with stan­dard sur­gi­cal ­repair. In addi­tion, ­patients ­with exten­sive comor­bid med­i­cal ill­ness­es in ­whom stan­dard oper­a­tive ­repair is con­tra-indi­cat­ed, ­may be suc­cess­ful­ly treat­ed ­using endo­vas­cu­lar ­means. A varie­ty of endo­vas­cu­lar ­stent ­grafts ­are cur­rent­ly ­being ­used clin­i­cal­ly ­for endo­vas­cu­lar ­AAA ­repair. The char­ac­ter­is­tics of ­these ­stent ­grafts ­vary sig­nif­i­cant­ly. In select­ing ­the spe­cif­ic ­stent ­graft to be ­used ­for endo­vas­cu­lar ­AAA ­repair, ­these spe­cif­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics ­must be con­sid­ered par­tic­u­lar­ly ­with ­regard to ­the indi­vid­u­al ­patient’s ana­tom­ic ­and phys­io­log­ic char­ac­ter­is­tics. In addi­tion, ­the indi­ca­tions ­for ­use of endo­vas­cu­lar ­grafts as com­pared to stan­dard ­open sur­gery ­have ­not ­yet ­been ful­ly ­defined. Endovascular ­stent ­grafts in cur­rent ­use ­have lim­i­ta­tions ­and ­their ­use ­must be tem­pered accord­ing­ly, ­until ­their ­long-­term effec­tive­ness is ­more com­plete­ly eval­u­at­ed. This arti­cle ­describes ­the gen­er­al prin­ci­ples of ­use ­for endo­vas­cu­lar devic­es ­for ­the ­repair of ­AAA. It ­details ­the fea­tures ­and ­results ­for ­the devic­es in cur­rent ­use ­and high­lights ­the fac­tors ­that influ­ence ­the selec­tion of spe­cif­ic ­stent ­graft ­types.