Aortic dissection following transluminal angioplasty of the thoracic aorta in nonspecific aortoarteritis

Emergent thoracic aortic angioplasty and stenting for middle aortic syndrome in non-specific aortitis

A 61-year-old Japanese male was admitted to hospital due to severe congestive heart failure and pre-renal failure with middle aortic syndrome. The patient was successfully treated with emergent aortic angioplasty and kissing stents implantation whilst in a hemodynamically unstable state. Our experience confirms that stenosis of the descending aorta when treated with catheter intervention may be palliative, however, it was a very effective method for life threatening clinical conditions in the short and mid-term and may be an alternative to surgery.

Renal Artery Stent Placement Complicated by Development of a Type B Aortic Dissection

Percutaneous renal artery angioplasty and stent placement have demonstrated safety and effectiveness in the treatment of selected patients with renovascular hypertension and ischemic nephropathy. Major complications have been predominantly confined to the affected renal artery and kidneys, including renal artery dissection and/or thrombosis, distal embolization, and contrast-related nephropathy. We report a case in which treatment of an ostial renal artery lesion with placement of a balloon-expandable stent was complicated by the development of an acute Type B aortic dissection.

Isolated supradiaphragmatic descending thoracic aorta stenosis in a Takayasu's disease: surgical cure

A 21-year-old male patient presented with a typical middle aortic syndrome. Echography disclosed a severe narrowing of the lower thoracic aorta with parietal thickening. The isolated character of the lesion was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging and aortography. The surgical cure was realized by a Dacron bypass between the upper thoracic descending aorta and the juxta-diaphragmatic thoracic aorta. Aortic biopsy confirmed Takayasu's disease. Postoperative course was uneventful with normalized blood pressure. The therapeutic options, surgery versus percutaneous dilatation and stent, are discussed.

Influence of angiographic morphology on the acute and longer-term outcome of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in patients with aortic stenosis due to nonspecific aortitis

PURPOSE

We studied the relationship of initial angiographic morphology in patients with aortic stenosis due to nonspecific aortitis and its relationship to immediate and later outcome following percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA).

METHODS

Correlation was performed in 10 successive patients by retrospective analysis. All had clinically inactive nonspecific aortitis and hemodynamically significant aortic stenosis resulting in hypertension or lower limb claudication. Five patients had discrete concentric stenosis; the other five had eccentric stenosis with diseased aortic segments adjacent to the stenosis.

RESULTS

The five patients with concentric stenosis (Group I) had primarily successful and uncomplicated PTA with sustained improvement. The five patients (Group II) with eccentric stenosis had initial success in three patients and two initial treatment failures with one patient showing late improvement. Four of these patients developed large intimal flaps. One of these had an aneurysm during follow-up. Follow-up angiograms in five patients showed remodelling with further angiographic and clinical improvement.

CONCLUSION

Eccentricity of the stenosis and diffuse aortic disease correlate unfavorably with immediate outcome of PTA but late improvement may still be seen.

Congenital coarctation of the lower thoracic aorta. A rare surgically correctable cause of hypertension in the young--case report

We report a case of congenital coarctation of the lower thoracic aorta. The patient, a 15-year-old man, presenting with the signs of classical coarctation, had the diagnosis confirmed by an aortography. A good surgical result was achieved by means of resection of the internal shelf and aortoplasty using a bovine pericardium patch. One year after the operation the patient has normal blood pressure with good femoral pulses.