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Shortening of endografts during deployment in endovascular AAA repair
1Department of Vascular Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, University of Sydney, NSW, Australia. ghwhite@mail.usyd.edu.au
Purpose:
To evaluate the incidence and extent of length changes during implantation of endovascular grafts in a prospective study of patients undergoing endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair.
Methods:
Data regarding the occurrence of intraoperative technical difficulties and device complications were recorded prospectively for the Vanguard or AneuRx self-expanding, bifurcated endovascular grafts in 64 patients (56 males; mean age 75 years). Graft length was measured in the sheath system before deployment and again immediately after deployment by fluoroscopic comparison to a graduated marking catheter.
Results:
Graft shortening > or = 15 mm was documented in 22 (56%) of 39 Vanguard cases and 11 (44%) of 25 AneuRx endografts. Additional extension grafts were required to correct endoleak caused by inadequate graft length in 9 (14%) patients, but no conversion to open repair was necessary.
Conclusions:
There appears to be a high incidence of intraprocedural graft shortening with 2 current designs of self-expanding endoluminal grafts.