Endovascular repair of the thoracic aorta: lessons learned.

Background: Available information on outcome and best strategies for thoracic endovascular repair is somewhat limited and unclear. We sought to gain a better understanding of these issues through a retrospective review of our 8-year clinical experience in the treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections.

Methods: A retrospective chart review of 186 patients undergoing stent-graft repair of thoracic aortic lesions at our institution during the 92-month period ending on December 31, 2004 was performed.