Endovascular Repair of Thoracic Aortic Disease: Early and Midterm Experience

Thoracic aorta disease remains a challenging problem, and despite improvements, open repair techniques are still associated with significant morbidity and mortality. This is a retrospective review of 53 consecutive patients with thoracic aortic pathology who were treated with endovascular repair between September 1998 and December 2004 at a tertiary-care hospital. Endovascular stent graft placement was performed on 23 elective and 30 emergent patients (34 male patients, mean age 66 years, 21 to 85 years). Completion angiography revealed no endoleak in 47 (89%) patients, a type I endoleak in 4 patients, and a type II endoleak in 2 patients. Operative 30-day mortality for elective aneurysms (n = 22), emergent aneurysms (n = 10), dissection (n = 3), penetrating aortic ulcers (n = 7), and trauma (n = 11) was 0%, 40%, 0%, 29%, and 9%, respectively. In total, 46 (87%) patients survived 30 days, and 36 (78.3%) of the survivors were discharged home free of complications. Two patients (4%) experienced paraplegia. Median follow-up was 22 months (1 to 72 months). Intermediate-term results revealed 41 (89%) patients free of endoleak, stent migration, or aneurysmal expansion. Two (4%) patients required reintervention with an additional stent graft. There were 2 (4%) patients with late aortic-related deaths and four (9%) patients with non-aortic-related late deaths. Endovascular stent graft placement for thoracic aorta disease can be performed successfully and safely with good perioperative and intermediate-term outcomes. Stent graft complication and reintervention rates are low, whereas intermediate survival rates are good. Long-term efficacy still needs to be evaluated.