Repair of Chronic Aneurysmal Aortic Dissection Using a Stent Graft and an Amplatzer^® Vascular Plug: A Case Study

We report a case in which a stent graft and an Amplatzer^® vascular plug (AVP) were effective for the treatment of chronic aneurysmal aortic dissection. The patient was a 52-year-old man. At 45 years of age, he developed acute aortic dissection, for which he underwent surgery 4 times with prosthetic graft replacement in the abdominal aorta, descending thoracic, ascending aorta (without neck branch reconstruction), and thoracoabdominal aorta with the reconstruction of the celiac, superior mesenteric, and bilateral renal arteries. At the time of thoracoabdominal aortic surgery, strong adhesion was evident, particularly in the thoracoabdominal area. The adhesion was dissected in a part of the chest, and prosthetic graft replacement was performed the following day. Subsequently, the dissection of the residual distal aortic arch enlarged, and the patient was examined at our hospital. Computed tomography (CT) revealed a small intimal tear at the site of anastomosis distal to the graft in the ascending aorta and a large intimal tear in the descending thoracic aorta with a maximum diameter of 67 mm. Furthermore, open repair by prosthetic graft replacement seemed difficult; therefore, treatment with stent grafting was considered. Because the prosthetic graft in the abdomen was extremely tortuous, stent-graft insertion via the femoral artery seemed to be impossible. The planned treatment involved the placement of a thoracic stent graft using the chimney technique which included reconstruction of the brachiocephalic artery and left common carotid arteries using chimney stent graft and coverage of the left subclavian artery. The thoracic stent graft was planned to be inserted via the abdominal prosthetic graft site because the abdominal prosthetic graft was crooked and was located close to the body surface. However, a small intimal tear distal to the graft in the ascending aorta which had not been revealed by intraoperative aortography was detected by the selective angiography, and closure with an AVP was attempted for this. The site was successfully closed using an AVP with a wire passing through the tear and into the false lumen. Thereafter, the large tear in the descending thoracic aorta was closed using a stent graft. The patient made good postoperative progress without evidence of paraplegia, and complete thrombosis of the false lumen was confirmed by postoperative CT. CT at 1 year after thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR) showed complete thrombosis of false lumen and aneurysm shrinkage.