Endoluminal aortic aneurysm repair using a balloon-expandable stent-graft device: a progress report

We describe our experience with endoluminal repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms using the stent-graft device. Twenty-four patients underwent 25 procedures in the 27-month period ending December 31, 1992. Twenty-one of the patients were considered high-risk candidates for conventional surgical repair. The endoluminal stented grafts were aortoaortic in 16 procedures and unilateral aortoiliac in eight. One patient underwent a second procedure consisting of an ilioiliac graft to repair a separate common iliac artery aneurysm. Technical problems were primarily related to retrograde transluminal access across the iliac arteries, tortuous aneurysms, and misjudgments as to measurement of length. One patient died and another required secondary deployment of a distal stent at 4 months; subsequent aneurysm expansion mandated surgical replacement at 18 months. It is clear that this device and methodology will have to undergo further refinement before the technique is acceptable for wider clinical application. Current experience, however, is encouraging. Aneurysm exclusion with an endoluminal prosthesis is likely to become an important therapeutic alternative over the next several years.