Risk factors for incomplete thrombosis in false lumen in sub-acute type B aortic dissection post-TEVAR

There is scarce information about the risk factors for incomplete false lumen thrombosis (FLT) among type B aortic dissection (AD) patients, particularly in the sub-acute phase following thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). We enrolled consecutive sub-acute type B AD patients at Xinqiao Hospital (Chongqing, China) from May 2010 to December 2019. Patients with severe heart failure, cancer, and myocardial infarction were excluded. The postoperative computed tomography angiography (CTA) data were extracted from the most recent follow-up aortic CTA. Multivariate logistic regressions were applied to identify the association between FLT and clinical or imaging factors. Fifty-five subjects were enrolled in our study. Twelve participants showed complete FLT, and 2 of these died during the follow-up, while 8 patients died in incomplete FLT group. In the multivariate analysis, maximum abdominal aorta diameter (OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.016-1.417 p = 0.032) and the number of branches arising from the false lumen (FL) (OR 15.062, 95% 1.681-134.982 p = 0.015) were significantly associated with incomplete FLT. The C-statistics was 0.873 (95% CI 0.773-0.972) for the model. The FL diameter (p < 0.001) was significantly shorter following TEVAR, while the true lumen diameter (p < 0.001) and maximum abdominal aorta diameter (p = 0.011) were larger after the aortic repair. There were 21.8% of sub-acute type B AD patients presented complete FLT post-TEVAR. Maximum abdominal aorta diameter and the number of branches arising from the FL were independent risk factors for incomplete FLT. The true lumen diameter, maximum abdominal aorta diameter, and FL diameter changed notably following TEVAR.