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.