Thoracic endovascular aortic repair for treatment of late complications after aortic coarctation repair.

BACKGROUND

To report our experience with thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for treatment of postcoarctation repair aortic aneurysms.

METHODS

Between November 2000 and December 2008, 13 patients were treated with TEVAR and rerouting of the supra-aortic vessels for aortic aneurysm (n = 10) and pseudoaneurysm (n = 3).

RESULTS

One patient (7.7%) died due to peroperative perforation of the aorta. For the other patients, the median hospital stay was 9 days. One patient needed an additional stent because of a type I endoleak. Two patients (15.4%) developed a small type II endoleak for which no additional intervention was needed. One patient developed hemothorax, four patients (30.8%) had a Horner syndrome, one patient had a phrenic nerve paresis, and another patient developed hemiplegia. The mean follow-up of the survivors was 35 months (range, 2-72) with a median of 30 months. Most patients (84.6%) showed a decrease or stabilization of the size of the aneurysm sac. One patient had recurrent pneumonia with increase of the size aneurysm after 3 years.

CONCLUSIONS

TEVAR is appealing for patients with late complications after aortic coarctation repair, but necessitates long-term follow-up.