Long-term survival after endovascular and open repair in patients with anatomy outside instructions for use criteria for endovascular aneurysm repair.

Background: Randomized controlled trials of long-term survival for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms have compared open surgical repair (OSR) with endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) in patients with suitable aortic anatomy for EVAR. However, in clinical practice, patients who do not meet instructions for use (IFU) criteria are often still treated by EVAR despite that some studies show higher graft-related adverse events. The goal of this study was to compare the long-term survival of EVAR and OSR in patients with anatomy outside IFU criteria for EVAR.

Editor's Choice - Infrainguinal Bypass Following Failed Endovascular Intervention Compared With Primary Bypass: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objectives: Patients with infrainguinal peripheral arterial disease often undergo multiple revascularisation procedures. Although many centres have adopted an endovascular first approach, some are reluctant to do so for fear of compromising the outcomes of any subsequent bypasses. All studies that compared the outcomes of primary infrainguinal bypass with bypass after failed endovascular intervention were analysed.

Preoperative point-of-care ultrasound and its impact on arteriovenous fistula maturation outcomes.

Objective: Duplex ultrasound as a preoperative assessment tool in the clinic may help identify anatomic factors predictive of fistula maturation. Preoperative point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) offers surgeons an alternative to routine formal vein mapping as it can be performed by the operator during the initial clinic visit. We sought to determine the impact of POCUS as an adjunct to physical examination on arteriovenous fistula maturation.

Any nonadherence to instructions for use predicts graft-related adverse events in patients undergoing elective endovascular aneurysm repair.

Background: A variety of devices exist for endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Device-specific instructions for use (IFU) detail anatomic constraints to application and deployment of devices and are developed from rigorous bench testing. Nonadherence to IFU occurs frequently to avoid open surgery.

Explaining endograft shortening during endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms in severe aortoiliac tortuosity.

Objective: During endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), severely tortuous aortoiliac anatomy can alter the deployment and conformability of the endograft. The accuracy of treatment length measurements is commonly recognized to be affected by severe tortuosity. However, the exact mechanism of the postintervention length discrepancy is poorly understood.

A National Survey on Teaching and Assessing Technical Proficiency in Vascular Surgery in Canada.

Background: This survey aims to explore trainees' perspectives on how Canadian vascular surgery training programs are using simulation in teaching and assessing technical skills through a cross-sectional national survey.

Methods: A 10-min online questionnaire was sent to Program Directors of Canada's Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons' of Canada approved training programs in vascular surgery. This survey was distributed among residents and fellows who were studying in the 2013-2014 academic year.

Patency of the contralateral internal iliac artery in aortouni-iliac endografting.

Objective: This study determined the outcome of the contralateral internal iliac artery (IIA) in patients undergoing aortouni-iliac (AUI) endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) with a femorofemoral bypass.

Methods: This retrospective study evaluated 131 consecutive patients undergoing AUI EVAR with femorofemoral bypass at the McGill University Health Center from October 2001 to November 2010. One hundred patients with preoperatively patent contralateral IIA met inclusion criteria for the study.