ENDOVASCULAR REPAIR OF ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2003 August;44(4):549-52

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms with the Excluder® bifurcated stent-graft

Pfammatter T. ¹, Mayer D. ², Pfiffner R. ¹, Koehler C. ², Hechelhammer L. ¹, Lachat M. L. ²

¹ Institute of Diagnostic Radiology University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland 2 Clinic of Cardiovascular Surgery University Hospital of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

The ­design of ­the Excluder®, ­which is con­sid­ered a 3rd gen­er­a­tion ­device ­for endo­vas­cu­lar ­repair of abdom­i­nal aor­tic aneu­rysms, is ­described. Based on a lit­er­a­ture ­search, clin­i­cal ­short- to ­mid-­term ­results ­are ­reviewed. So ­far, effi­ca­cy ­and safe­ty of ­the Excluder® ­for elec­tive ­and emer­gent aneu­rysm ­repair ­have ­been dem­on­strat­ed. In ­none of ­the stud­ies per­i­op­er­a­tive con­ver­sion to ­open sur­gery or ­late aneu­rysm rup­ture ­has ­been report­ed. The cumu­la­tive 30-­day-mor­tal­ity ­rate ­was ­below 1%. Compared to ­the oth­er com­mer­cial devic­es, aneu­rysm shrink­age is ­less ­marked ­after ­repair ­with ­the Excluder®. Whether ­this is incon­ven­ient ­remains to be prov­en on ­long-­term fol­low-up.