Purpose: To analyze our experience with endovascular stent-grafting of descending aortic aneurysms in high-risk patients.
Methods: Nineteen patients underwent endovascular stent-graft repair of descending aortic aneurysms using the Talent Stent Graft System (Medtronic). All patients were considered high-risk for open surgical repair due to their age, requirement for emergency surgery, and comorbidities. Computed tomography and/or MR tomography were performed at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively and thereafter every 12 months.
Results: Secondary technical success was 100%. Thirty-day mortality was 5%. Incidence of postoperative stroke and paraplegia were 5% each. One patient required a second stent-graft due to a type I endoleak during the same hospital stay (primary technical success 95%). All patients have been followed for a median of 20 months. No migration, wire fractures or endoleak appeared during follow-up.
Conclusion: Endovascular stent-grafting had a low 30-day mortality and morbidity in high-risk patients. One patient developed an aortoesophageal fistula 40 days after stent implantation. Stent-graft repair is a valuable supplement to surgical therapy in high-risk patients.