Snorkel endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair versus fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair: is it a competition?

Endovascular management of complete disruption of aortic anastomosis after pediatric multivisceral transplant

Multivisceral transplantation is a life-saving treatment for many chronically ill patients with advanced abdominal pathologies. For such transplants, a complex arterial reconstruction is required, with numerous anastomoses on a composite donor graft and the native aorta. In these patients, anastomotic disruption or pseudoaneurysm formation, often in the setting of infection, are deadly complications. Open surgical repair is hazardous, because many of these patients have dense adhesions. Reported cases of disruption at the aortic anastomosis to date have resulted in patient demise. We report the case of a pediatric multivisceral transplant recipient with ruptured aortic pseudoaneurysm. He underwent an emergent endovascular parallel stent grafting technique, which successfully controlled bleeding and maintained graft perfusion.

Recent Development and Long-Term Results of Open vs EVAR for Pararenal Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms

In this article, I would like to discuss on the two different treatment options (Open vs EVAR) for pararenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (the term "PRAAA" is not clearly defined and classified). Recently, complex endovascular treatment [Fenestrated EVAR (F-EVAR), Chimney (Snorkel) EVAR (C-EVAR, S-EVAR), Branched EVAR (B-EVAR)] have been developed and applied in selected patients, with encouraging early results; however, the high rate for secondary reinterventions and long-term results remain uncertain. This article introduce new devices and a new concept with endovascular aneurysm sealing (EVAS) are currently available on the market for the treatment of PRAAA. Open repair of PRAAA can be performed with low mortality and long-term survival is favorable from single-center experience in the real world and others. We conclude that open repair remains the golden standard treatment in most centers for PRAAA. However, EVAR of PRAAA may represent an alternative option in high-risk patients. Because the indications and circumstances for PRAAA vary based on patient-specific comorbidities and anatomy, it is recommended that vascular surgeons should be familiar with both treatment strategies and tailor-made strategy for improved long-term results for PRAAA. (This is a translation of Jpn J Vasc Surg 2018; 27: 303-308.).

Adjunctive visceral artery chimney in patients undergoing Zenith Fenestrated aortic repair

OBJECTIVE

Visceral artery chimneys have been employed as an adjunct to endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) to treat short-neck infrarenal and juxtarenal aortic aneurysms for more than two decades. With the widespread introduction of fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair by the Food and Drug Administration-approved Zenith Fenestrated endograft (ZFEN; Cook Medical, Bloomington, Ind) to the United States in 2012, clinicians gained the ability to apply the chimney technique to these custom devices for difficult anatomy. The purpose of this report was to demonstrate feasibility and to provide evidence on the performance of chimneys for the treatment of complex juxtarenal aneurysms that could not be adequately treated with ZFEN alone.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis was performed of a prospectively maintained institutional ZFEN database capturing 110 fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repairs from October 2012 to January 2018 to identify patients undergoing a concomitant visceral artery chimney. All patients with <12 months of follow-up were excluded from further analysis. Demographic, anatomic, intraoperative, perioperative, and follow-up characteristics were tabulated and analyzed.

RESULTS

Six patients met criteria and were included in this investigation. They were universally male with a mean age of 76.2 years at the time of ZFEN/chimney. Chimneys were placed in a total of six visceral arteries (n = 1 per patient) consisting of three renal arteries, two celiac arteries, and one accessory renal artery. Mean estimated blood loss and operative time were 283 mL and 298 minutes, respectively. Technical success was achieved in all cases. Two small type IA "gutter" endoleaks were detected early; both spontaneously resolved on follow-up. We observed no instances of chimney migration, stenosis, or thrombosis perioperatively or on follow-up. Two reinterventions were performed in these six patients; these consisted of a repeated renal stent for ostial stenosis at a main body fenestration and a common femoral artery endarterectomy and patch angioplasty for an access-related common femoral artery occlusion.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of ZFEN in conjunction with a singular chimney is safe, feasible, and durable in patients with difficult anatomy who do not meet instructions for use as demonstrated in this limited series.

Configuration affects parallel stent grafting results

OBJECTIVE

A number of adjunctive "off-the-shelf" procedures have been described to treat complex aortic diseases. Our goal was to evaluate parallel stent graft configurations and to determine an optimal formula for these procedures.

METHODS

This is a retrospective review of all patients at a single medical center treated with parallel stent grafts from January 2010 to September 2015. Outcomes were evaluated on the basis of parallel graft orientation, type, and main body device. Primary end points included parallel stent graft compromise and overall endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) compromise.

RESULTS

There were 78 patients treated with a total of 144 parallel stents for a variety of pathologic processes. There was a significant correlation between main body oversizing and snorkel compromise (P = .0195) and overall procedural complication (P = .0019) but not with endoleak rates. Patients were organized into the following oversizing groups for further analysis: 0% to 10%, 10% to 20%, and >20%. Those oversized into the 0% to 10% group had the highest rate of overall EVAR complication (73%; P = .0003). There were no significant correlations between any one particular configuration and overall procedural complication. There was also no significant correlation between total number of parallel stents employed and overall complication. Composite EVAR configuration had no significant correlation with individual snorkel compromise, endoleak, or overall EVAR or procedural complication. The configuration most prone to individual snorkel compromise and overall EVAR complication was a four-stent configuration with two stents in an antegrade position and two stents in a retrograde position (60% complication rate). The configuration most prone to endoleak was one or two stents in retrograde position (33% endoleak rate), followed by three stents in an all-antegrade position (25%). There was a significant correlation between individual stent configuration and stent compromise (P = .0385), with 31.25% of retrograde stents having any complication.

CONCLUSIONS

Parallel stent grafting offers an off-the-shelf option to treat a variety of aortic diseases. There is an increased risk of parallel stent and overall EVAR compromise with <10% main body oversizing. Thirty-day mortality is increased when more than one parallel stent is placed. Antegrade configurations are preferred to any retrograde configuration, with optimal oversizing >20%.

A Novel Off-the-Shelf Technique for Endovascular Repair of Type III and IV Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysms Using the Gore Excluder and Viabahn Branches

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study is to describe the use of a novel off-the-shelf technique to repair type III and type IV thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) in the absence of available prefabricated branched devices.

METHODS

All patients undergoing endovascular repair of type III and IV TAAAs using this technique were included from a prospectively maintained registry at a regional aortic referral center. The proximal bifurcated Gore C3 Excluder device is positioned in the descending thoracic aorta with the contralateral gate 2-3 cm above the celiac artery. From an axillary approach, the contralateral gate renovisceral branches are sequentially cannulated and simultaneously stented using Viabahn covered stents. In cases were the celiac artery could not be excluded, a parallel stent (snorkel) was added adjacent to the proximal endograft. All branches are simultaneously balloon dilated to ensure proximal gutter seal in the contralateral gate. Via the ipsilateral limb, the device can then be extended with a flared iliac extension and/or additional bifurcated device to obtain seal in the distal aorta (previous open repair) or common iliac arteries.

RESULTS

Eight patients (male = 6, mean 78 years of age) were treated in this manner since January 2015. All patients underwent repair using Gore C3 device with 3 (n = 5) or 4 (n = 3) renovisceral branches. The celiac artery was sacrificed in 4 patients and 1 renal artery in 1 patient. Mean fluoroscopy time was 88.7 min with a mean of 92.3 cc contrast utilized. Median length of stay was 7 days with 3 days spent in the intensive care unit. No major cardiac, respiratory, renal, neurologic, or wound complications occurred. Three patients had early endoleaks treated with additional endovascular techniques (n = 2) or open surgical ligation (n = 1) during the index hospitalization. Two late endoleaks were identified; 1 type II with stable sac size and 1 type III requiring iliac limb relining. All limbs and branches remain patent at the time of the last imaging study (mean 6.8 months).

CONCLUSIONS

We present an endovascular technique for repair of type III and IV TAAAs which appears to be both feasible and safe with good short-term outcomes.