Endovascular treatment of aneurysmal disease.

Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm using stent grafts that are delivered intraluminally by catheters is a less invasive alternative to open surgical repair. Endovascular surgery has been studied for over a decade, and early results are comparable to open repair. With extended follow-up care, however, postoperative complications and graft failures have been reported in some patients, resulting in reintervention, conversion to open repair, and death. The high incidence of secondary interventions causes some researchers to question the durability of endograft repair and emphasizes the need for detailed long-term follow-up care. This article describes the evolution of endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm from its origin to its current state and discusses the future direction of endovascular therapy.