Current perspectives in acute type B aortic dissections: a literature review

In this new millennial, endovascular strategies have revolutionized the treatment of acute type B aortic dissection (aTBAD). With reduced in-hospital mortality and good long-term outcomes TEVAR has become the gold standard for the treatment of complicated dissection and is gaining increasing support for its preventive applicability in some uncomplicated dissections. With this new paradigm came a shift of the treatment goal where just covering the entry tear is not enough and instead achieving long-term positive thoracoabdominal remodeling is needed. More extensive approaches with composite device designs (covered stent graft and bare metal stent) emerged to answer this aortic conundrum. At 5-year of follow-up, "Provisional ExTension To Induce COmplete Attachment technique" (PETTICOAT) and its evolution "Stent assisted balloon induced intimal disruption and relamination in aortic dissection repair" (STABILISE) seem to be safe techniques that can allow, when anatomically feasible, excellent aortic remodeling and, in some cases, even the healing of the dissection. Nevertheless, STABILISE results, although promising, are mostly based on small series and therefore need to be validated by analyzing medium-long-term results from the international registry. Given the plethora of new data and the disparity of expert opinions on the best treatment to adopt, in this review we aim to summarize the current knowledge on the results of these different strategies for acute TBAD.