Purpose: Endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) is currently expanding its feasibility thanks to design innovations, but hostile proximal necks and narrow iliac arteries are still a constraint, as expressed by the Instructions for Use (IFU) of most devices. Our aim is to report the preliminary results of the E-Tegra endograft in infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) performed in 15 high-volume centers.
Materials And Methods: The e-Tegra Italian endoGraft REgistry (TIGRE) is a prospectively maintained database of consecutive EVAR with the E-Tegra stent-graft across 15 participating centers between March 2021 and March 2023.
Background: Narrow and tortuous iliac axes are the second most common reason the feasibility of endovascular aortic repair (EVAR), and low-profile endografts were conceived to overcome the limitation of narrow and tortuous iliac axes. This study aims to report the initial results of EVAR performed with the ultra-low-profile Minos® abdominal endograft through a retrospective study conducted across 3 high-volume centers.
Methods: We retrospectively reviewed a prospectively maintained database collecting all consecutive EVAR performed with the Minos endograft across 3 Centers of Vascular Surgery between 2020 and 2023.
The treatment choice of visceral artery aneurysms in an elective setting is debated. The durability and the risk of reintervention with endovascular treatment are still reasons for concern, whereas open surgery is invasive and burdened by major complications. In anecdotal reports and isolated studies, robotic-assisted surgery seems to provide the possibility of a minimally invasive treatment and the durability of traditional open surgery, but the literature supporting this view is scarce.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To describe our clinical experience of endovascular exclusion of popliteal artery aneurysms using the new self-expandable covered stent SOLARIS® (Scitech Medical, Brazil), and to report its results in the context of surgical and endovascular treatment of popliteal artery aneurysms.
Case Report: Among 20 popliteal artery aneurysms undergoing open or endovascular repair in 2022 and 2023, two patients were successfully treated with the Solaris stentgraft. Both patients had a patent popliteal artery and three run-off vessels.
Background: Ruptured splenic artery aneurysms (r-SAA), although rare, are burdened by high morbidity and mortality, even despite emergent surgical repair. It is suggested that endovascular treatment can achieve reduction in peri-operative death and complication rates, as in other vascular diseases, but evidence of such benefits is still lacking in this particular setting. We report a case of an r-SAA treated by trans-arterial embolization and then converted to open surgery for persistent bleeding, and we provide a systematic review of current results of open and endovascular repair of r-SAAs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn one hand, the main difficulties in establishing a wide, evidence-based consensus about the best approach to visceral artery aneurysms (VAAs) and pseudoaneurysms (VAPAs) are the paucity of data, due to their rarity in the general population, and the extreme heterogeneity of this group of diseases, which encompasses different aneurysm types, with different degrees of rupture risks according to their anatomical locations [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Newer generation abdominal endografts, including Treo (Terumo Aortic, Sunrise, Florida), have shown optimal safety and effectiveness in treating abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), even with hostile anatomy over the short- and mid-term. The durability of such results, however, is still a controversial issue, due to the paucity of long-term data. Our aim is to show the long-term outcomes of endovascular aortic repair of both standard and hostile AAAs with the Treo endograft on a cohort of patients treated between 2016 and 2017.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The commitment of multidisciplinary teams in antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs) is often inadequately considered, especially in surgical wards. We wanted to evaluate clinical, microbiological, and pharmacological outcomes before and after the implementation of an ASP in the Vascular Surgery ward of Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, a tertiary care hospital in Pavia, Italy.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental quality-improvement study.
Background And Aim: Spinal cord ischemia following open or endovascular aneurysm repair of the abdominal aorta is rare but highly disabling complication. The aim of this work is to report on its occurrence and its legal consequences.
Methods: We report a case of spinal cord ischemia complicating an endovascular aortic repair, its management and sequalae, comparing it with the existing literature and we examine its legal consequences resulting in a malpractice lawsuit and the final decision of the judge.
Background: This study aims to propose a minimally invasive surgical approach to the common femoral artery in endovascular aortic repair and assess its value by a single-center retrospective study including 118 patients.
Methods: Between 2017 and 2022, all patients receiving endovascular treatment for thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms in our center had the anterior wall of the common femoral artery exposed, through a 2-3 cm transverse groin incision, instead of a complete surgical cutdown. We access the artery with a purse-string suture, held tight with a tourniquet.
Objectives: The aim of the study was to assess 24-month efficacy and safety of a novel drug-eluting stent (DES) for femoropopliteal interventions with an innovative stent design and abluminal reservoir technology releasing the amphilimus formulation (sirolimus plus fatty acid) for efficient drug transfer and optimized release kinetics.
Background: DES releasing paclitaxel exhibited good patency rates after femoropopliteal interventions. No benefit has been reported when sirolimus or everolimus were used for antiproliferative stent coating.
The aim of this report is to discuss emergent repair for complex aortic diseases in patients affected by novel coronavirus pneumonia (coronavirus disease-2019 [COVID-19]), describing a case of ruptured pararenal aortic aneurysm. An eighty-year-old man with COVID-19 was admitted for ruptured aneurysm of the pararenal aorta and hemorrhagic shock. Endovascular repair was chosen, and a proximal extension of the previous abdominal endograft was performed with parallel stents in the right renal artery and the superior mesenteric artery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Open repair is still the first choice for thoraco-abdominal and para-renal aortic aneurysms, but surgical treatment is burdened by significant morbidity and mortality, especially in urgent setting. Endovascular treatment by fenestrated or branched endografts is feasible and safe; but in urgent/emergent settings, custom-made endografts are hardly available in due time, and the repair with standard multibranched devices is still debated in cases with complex anatomy. Parallel grafting, on the other hand, which exploits covered stents to preserve patency of the visceral vessels, has been shown as a valuable option and can be performed in urgency, though some concerns still remain regarding its durability and complications.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Splenic artery aneurysms are rare, but their occurrence is burdened by considerable mortality and morbidity rates. Although the indications to treatment are quite clear-cut, there is still debate on the first-choice technique of treatment (endovascular, open, or laparoscopic surgery). Recently, robotic surgery has been proposed as an alternative option in patients at high surgical risk.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a disruptive technology that is quickly spreading to many fields, including healthcare. In this context, it allows the creation of graspable, patient-specific, anatomical models generated from medical images. The ability to hold and show a physical object speeds up and facilitates the understanding of anatomical details, eases patient counseling and contributes to the education and training of students and residents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is currently accepted as an alternative to open repair for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Approximately 40-60% of AAA patients are not considered eligible for EVAR due to unfavorable anatomy. There is currently no consensus on the definition of "hostile" aortic neck for EVAR procedure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Endovascular repair is currently the most frequently used treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms, but its feasibility and success highly depend on the characteristics and the correct choice of the endograft to be used. Bolton Treo is one of the most popular endografts of newer generation which have been launched in the past few years, and this study aims to analyze the preliminary outcomes (8 months in average) of a single-center experience with this device.
Methods: Thirty-seven consecutive abdominal aortic aneurysms, treated with Treo between June 2016 and December 2017, were followed up every 3, 6, and 12 months, and any kind of endograft-related complications was recorded.
Background: Custom-made fenestrated and branched endografts are considered the gold standard devices for thoracoabdominal repair, with lower perioperative mortality and morbidities than open surgical repair. Although they are not feasible in urgent and emergent settings, in which sandwich techniques are often necessary, custom-made devices can still be used as bail-out options to correct late complications such as high-flow endoleaks, as shown in this case report.
Methods: A complex, symptomatic thoracoabdominal aneurysm, unsuitable for open repair, was treated by sandwich technique on the celiac trunk despite having a short distal neck.
Background The endovascular approach became an alternative to open surgical treatment of popliteal artery aneurysm over the last few years. Heparin-bonded stent-grafts have been employed for endovascular popliteal artery aneurysm repair, showing good and stable results. Only few reports about the use of multilayer flow modulator are available in literature, providing small patient series and short follow-up.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe history of the recognition and surgical treatment of lower limb ischemia dates back to the Middle Ages. The twin Saints Comas and Damian were ascribed to have saved a gangrenous limb in the 13 century and became patrons of future surgeons. The physicians that followed developed the theories of blood flow, anatomy of the arterial circulation, and recognition that occlusive disease was the cause of limb ischemia and gangrene.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The objective of this study was to assess immediate and midterm outcomes for urgent/emergent and elective patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) treated with the first commercially available "off-the-shelf" multibranched endograft for endovascular aneurysm repair, with a single-step or a staged surgical approach.
Methods: A multicenter, nonrandomized, retrospective study was conducted of TAAA patients grouped by urgent/emergent and elective treatment with multibranched endograft for endovascular aneurysm repair at 13 Italian centers from November 2012 to August 2016. Urgent/emergent repair was classified as rupture in 16%, impending rupture in 9%, pain in 53%, or a maximum TAAA diameter ≥80 mm in 22%.