Objectives: To evaluate the early experience with transfemoral endovascular aortic aneurysm management using the Endovascular Grafting System.
Design: Multi-centre prospective evaluation of the implantation procedure and early results (median follow-up 153 days).
Setting: Department of Surgery, University Hospital Utrecht, The Netherlands; Department of Surgery, University of Sydney, Australia; University of Leicester School of Medicine, Leicester, U.K., Department of Surgery, Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden and Nuffield Department of Surgery, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital; Oxford, U.K.
Materials: 31 consecutive patients treated in 13 months. CHIEF OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS: Peri and postoperative morbidity and mortality in accordance with the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Reporting Standards.
Main results: Graft placement was initially successful in all 31 patients. In one patient the endograft had to be replaced by a standard aortic tube graft because of extra graft flow in the aneurysm sac, and complaints of back pain. One patient died from multiple organ failure, 11 days after the operation. In three patients five severe adverse events were recorded. Breaks of the attachment system were encountered in two patients. These failures did not have severe clinical consequences for individual patients.
Conclusions: Transfemoral Endovascular Aneurysm Management is a technically demanding procedure that requires special training in both catheter and surgical techniques. The potential for less operative morbidity when compared to conventional surgery and the prospect of technical improvements in graft and introduction system design will make TEAM an important tool in aneurysm management in the near future.