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.

Long-term outcome and reintervention after endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair using the Zenith stent graft.

Hiramoto JS, Reilly LM, Schneider DB, Sivamurthy N, Rapp JH, Chuter TA

Division of Vascular Surgery, University of California-San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA. hiramotoj@surgery.ucsf.edu

OBJECTIVE: To assess the long-term performance of the bifurcated Zenith stent graft. METHODS: A total of 325 patients (300 men and 25 women) underwent elective endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair with bifurcated Zenith stent grafts between October 1998 and December 2005. Follow-up included routine contrast-enhanced computed tomography and multiview abdominal radiographs at 1, 6, and 12 months and yearly thereafter. Data on late-occurring (>30 days after stent-graft implantation) complications and interventions were collected prospectively. RESULTS: Of the original 325 patients, 92 have since died, resulting in a mean follow-up of 2.3 years (range, 1 month to 7.0 years). Nine (2.8%) of 325 patients required reintervention to treat or prevent endoleak (type I or III) or graft occlusion at an average of 1.4 years after stent-graft placement (range, 40 days to 4.0 years). Three (0.9%) of these patients died from causes related to malfunction of the stent graft: one each from aneurysm rupture, stent-graft infection, and infection of a femoral-femoral bypass graft placed after limb occlusion. Nineteen additional patients (5.8%) required treatment for type II endoleak, for a total reintervention rate of 8.6%. CONCLUSIONS: Late failures of Zenith stent-graft attachment, structure, or function are rare. In the absence of known endoleak, routine follow-up imaging plays a limited role in the identification and prevention of impending failure.

Published 26 February 2007 in J Vasc Surg, 45(3): 461-5; discussion 465-6.
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