Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm, including details on aaa (abdominal aortic aneurism), cardiac disease, treatment, symptoms, surgery. | ||||||||
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Failure of aneurysm sac shrinkage after endovascular repair; the effect of mural calcification.Love M, Wray A, Worthington M, Ellis P Department of Radiology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, UK. mark.love@royalhospitals.n-i.nhs.uk AIM: To evaluate the effect of abdominal aortic aneurysm wall calcification on subsequent sac shrinkage after endovascular repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seventy-three patients underwent endovascular aneurysm repair. The degree of sac wall calcification on pre-procedural computed tomography (CT) examination was graded from 1 to 4 according to the degree of circumferential involvement. On follow-up CT imaging, the maximum transverse diameter (MTD) of the sac was recorded, as well as the presence or absence of endoleak. In those patients with a non-shrinking aneurysm, but no CT evidence of endoleak, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (USS) was performed. Any patient with an endoleak, however diagnosed, was excluded from the study. Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient testing was applied to compare the degree of calcification and change in MTD. RESULTS: Sixty-three pre-procedural CT images were available for calcification grading. Six of this group had endoleaks resulting in 57 sets of data being available for the study. A reduction in MTD occurred in 68.25% of these patients by 1 year post-procedure. Our figures show aortic calcification is inversely associated with MTD reduction at 6 months (p = 0.01), 1 year (p = 0.05) and 2 years (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study indicates that the degree of aortic wall calcification is significant in predicting MTD reduction post-endovascular repair. The possible mechanisms and implications of this are discussed. Published 18 November 2005 in Clin Radiol, 60(12): 1290-4.
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