Early and midterm outcome of a novel technique to simplify the hybrid procedures in the treatment of thoracoabdominal and pararenal aortic aneurysms.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Viabahn Open Revascularization Technique (VORTEC) in the treatment of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) and pararenal aortic aneurysms (PAAAs) by hybrid procedures.

METHODS: Between December 2004 and March 2009, 58 patients (45 male, mean age, 74 years) were diagnosed with TAAA (n = 30) and PAAA (n = 28) and treated electively by combined hybrid techniques. Hybrid procedure includes bypass surgery of the visceral and renal arteries (debranching or rerouting), followed by endovascular exclusion of the aortic aneurysm. One hundred thirteen renovisceral vessels were revascularized in a retrograde fashion (ie, 98 renal and 15 visceral arteries), using VORTEC. The novel technique consists of the placement of self-expanding stent-grafts (Viabahn graft, Gore and Associates, Flagstaff, Ariz) in Seldinger technique into the renal and visceral arteries after surgical identification of the origin of the arteries. The end of the stent outside of the renal artery was sutured end to side directly with the main feeding graft, bypassing the aneurysm, or was fixed into an interposition branch graft on the main bypass. All cases were treated by two-staged approach (endovascular aneurysm repair [EVAR] performed after recovery from the debranching procedure). Computed tomography angiography and clinical follow-up were obtained before discharge, at six weeks, and three, six, and 12 months after the procedure and then annually.

RESULTS: Primary technical success of VORTEC was achieved in all patients. Overall primary patency rate of the novel technique was 97% during a mean follow-up of 22.1 +/- 12.9 months (range, 1-52 months); the primary patency of the subgroups PAAAs and TAAAs was 97.7% and 96.4%, respectively; the assisted primary patency rate was 98%, as two occluded Viabahn grafts were reopened by thrombolysis and thrombus aspiration. No patient required long-term hemodialysis. Thirty-day mortality rate was 8.6% (5/58) and 25.8% (15/58) for the entire follow up. Permanent neurologic deficit occurred in two cases (3.4%; paraplegia, n = 1; paraparesis, n = 1). The overall endoleak rate was 17.1% as three patients presented early (30-day) type I endoleak, treated by cuff-implantation, and six patients presented type II endoleak, three of them treated by coil embolization of the patent vessel and the others treated conservatively with radiological surveillance.

CONCLUSION: VORTEC allows performance of easy, safe, and minimally invasive revascularization of renal and visceral arteries and may represent a significant technical advance in the hybrid repair of TAAAs and PAAAs. However, the questions of reproducibility by other centers and long-term results are mandatory to establish this alternative revascularization option.