Impact of Renal Artery Stent-Graft Placement on Renal Function in Chronic Aortic Dissection

To evaluate the effect of renal stent-graft placement on kidney function and size alternation in chronic aortic dissection.

Twenty-five consecutive patients with chronic aortic dissection after thoracic endovascular aortic repair who underwent renal stent-graft placement between January 2015 and December 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Forty-three patients with chronic aortic dissection who received thoracic endovascular aortic repair in the same period were reviewed as a control group for kidney volume comparison.

Twenty-five stent-grafts were deployed over 25 renal arteries. Overall renal function was assessed by the slope of the regression line constructed from the plots of creatinine clearance versus time within 2 years after the procedure (-0.2810 vs -0.3146 mL/min^-1/mo^-1, P = .868), kidney volume at 12 months (129.4 ± 40.9 vs 137.0 ± 44.2 cm², P = .193) and effective renal plasma flow at 6 months (106.3 ± 46.9 vs 124.4 ± 55.5 mL/min, P = .050) and was not significantly deteriorated. Seven treated patients (87.5%) with a renal artery supplied by a false lumen had a decrease in kidney volume, as did 14 patients (56%) in the control group (P = .206). Three patients with a dissected renal artery (75%) in the stent-graft group had an increase in kidney volume compared with 1 patient (11.1%) in the control group (P = .052).

Occlusion of the re-entry tear by a stent-graft in the renal artery remains a safe strategy to promote false lumen thrombosis. The stent-graft poses a potential risk of reducing the kidney volume in kidneys supplied by the false lumen but may provide a positive effect in kidney volume with a concomitant dissected renal artery in chronic aortic dissection.