Aortic Neck Dilatation Following Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has become a mainstay of treatment for a variety of thoracic aortic pathologies. Expansion of the proximal aortic neck after endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms has been demonstrated; however, dilatation of the proximal aortic neck after TEVAR has not been well described. We sought to describe remodeling of the proximal neck following TEVAR.

This is a retrospective, single institution review of patients who underwent TEVAR for thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) and dissection with aneurysmal degeneration from 2010 to 2019. Postoperative computed tomography scans were reviewed and aortic diameter was measured in orthogonal planes using 3-dimensional centerline reconstruction software. The primary outcome was change in aortic diameter at the proximal aortic neck as compared to the initial postoperative computed tomography scan. Clinical and operative data were analyzed to identify factors associated with significant neck dilatation.

Of 87 patients who underwent TEVAR during the study period, 30 met inclusion criteria. Median follow up was 20.5 months. Median age was 67 years, and 15 patients (50%) were female. The proximal aortic neck experienced an overall increase over time in aortic diameter. Five mm distal to the graft showed the greatest rate of expansion, with a median increase of 1.3, 2.9, and 6.2 mm at one year, two years, and three years, respectively. When comparing patients who had mean expansion at this location of >2.0 mm/year to patients who did not, a higher percentage had dissection pathology (81.8% vs. 31.6%, P = 0.008), had graft placement at aortic landing zone 2 (36.4% vs. 5.3%, P = 0.028), and were smokers (100% vs. 52.6%, P = 0.006). Higher percent oversizing was shown to be associated with significant aortic neck dilatation for true aneurysms only.

Aortic neck dilatation occurs over time for the majority of patients following TEVAR with the distal neck experiencing the highest rate of expansion. Dissection pathology, aortic landing zone 2, and smoking were found to be associated with a higher rate of neck dilatation.