Intravascular Ultrasound and Peripheral Endovascular Interventions

In recent years the interest in minimal invasive surgery has been growing and the same trend can be observed in vascular surgery, leading to what is commonly referred to as lIendovascular surgery". Although the 1990s represent an era of technical revolution in vascular surgery, it is a misunderstanding to consider endovascular treatment a recent development. In 1947 J050 Cid dos Santos described the thrombo-endarterectomy'; this technique was modified by Vollmar in 1964, to a semi-closed endarterectomy using ringstrippers'> In the same year other pioneers, including Dotter and Judkins, published prelinlinary results on what they called "angioplasty" of the femoropopliteal artery using coaxial eatheters.3 This technique was later modified by Griintzig in 1974, who replaced the coaxial catheters with dilatation balloons.' In the early 1990s, Volodos and Parodi introduced the endovascular treatment of the abdominal aortic aneurysm with a device composed of a Dacron graft and Palmaz stents.5 ,6 The collaboration between interventional radiologists and vascular surgeons has been of eminent importance for further evolution of endovascular teclmiques. Nowadays a great variety of obstmctive and aneurysmal peripheral vascular diseases can be treated with catheter-guided, endovascular and, therefore, less invasive techniques. The development of these endovascular techniques prompted the need for improved vascular imaging and better diagnostics. Since angiography displays only a "lumenogram II of the vessel, tills prechldes qualitative evaluation of atherosclerotic plaque and quantitative assessment of plaque and vessel. Sophisticated modalities such as colour duplex, computed tomographic angiography and magnetic resonance imaging can be important in the pre- and postintervention assessment of vascular disease. These techniques, however, do not always give accurate information on the dimensions of the vessel or the extent of the disease and at the present time cannot be used during intervention.7 Intravascular ultrasound depicts both the vascular lumen and vascular wall: thus, inform

Evaluation of a dedicated dual phased-array surface coil using a black-blood FSE sequence for high resolution MRI of the carotid vessel wall

Purpose: To investigate the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to visualize the carotid vessel wall using a phased-array coil and a black-blood (BB) fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence. Materials and Methods: The phased-array coil was compared with a three-inch coil. Images from volunteers were evaluated for artifacts, wall layers, and wall signal intensity. Signal intensity and homogeneity of atherosclerosis were assessed. Lumen diameter and vessel area were measured. Results: Comparison between the phased-array coil and the three-inch coil showed a 100% increase in signal-to-noise ratio. BB-FSE imaging resulted in good delineation between blood and vessel wall. Most volunteers had a two-layered vessel wall with a hyperintense inner layer. MRI showed both homogeneous hyperintense and heterogeneous plaques, which consisted of a main hyperintense part with hypointense spots and/or intermediate regions. MRI lumen and area measurements were performed easily. Conclusion: High resolution MRI of carotid atherosclerosis is feasible with a phased-array coil and a BB-FSE sequence

Five Year Outcomes of the Endurant Stent Graft for Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair in the ENGAGE Registry

Objective/background: Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR) is commonly used to treat abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). However, the incidence of long-term complications and the need for re-interventions after EVAR remains a concern. Newer generation stent grafts have encouraging short and mid-term outcomes, but thorough analysis of their long-term performance is necessary. Methods: The ENGAGE registry includes a total of 1263 patients with AAA enrolled from March 2009 to April 2011 at 79 centres across 30 countries. The aim of this study is to present standard EVAR outcomes in the registry after five years. Results: A significant proportion of the ENGAGE patients presented with challenging features, such as 15.2% with an AAA diameter >7 cm, 12.0% with proximal neck lengths 60°. Of the 1263 enrolled subjects, 17.8% were implanted outside of the instructions for use for the device. At the five year follow up, the Kaplan–Meier overall survival rate was 67.4% and the freedom from aneurysm related mortality was 97.8%. Freedom from aneurysm rupture, secondary procedures, and conversion to open repair at five years were 98.6%, 84.3%, and 97.9% respectively. The five year freedom from type IA endoleaks was 95.2% and for type III endoleaks 97.4%. Aneurysm sac diameter at five years was observed to have either decreased ≥5 mm in diameter or remained stable in 89.4% of the patients. Conclusion: Five year follow up of patients in the ENGAGE registry demonstrates sustained safety, effectiveness, and durability in an international cohort that is reflective of real world experience. Additional follow up is expected through to 10 years

Systematic review and meta-analysis of sex differences in outcome after intervention for abdominal aortic aneurysm

Background: The aim of this study was to assess possible differences in mortality between men and women with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) treated either by elective repair or following aneurysm rupture. Metlioclss A systematic literature search was performed using the MEDLINE, Cochrane and Embase databases. Data were analysed by means of bivariate random-effects meta-analysis. Data were pooled and odds ratios (ORs) calculated for women compared with men. Resulte: Sixty-one studies (516118 patients) met the predetermined inclusion criteria. Twenty-six reported on elective open AAA repair, 21 on elective endovascular repair, 25 on open repair for ruptured AAA and one study on endovascular repair for ruptured AAA Mortality rates for women compared with men were 7-6 versus 5-1 per cent (OR 1-28, 95 per cent confidence interval (c.i.) 1.09 to 1.49) for elective open repair, 2-9 versus 1.5 per cent (OR 2.41, 95 per cent c.i. 1.14 to 5.15) for elective endovascular repair, and 61.8 versus 42.2 percent (OR 1.16, 95 perent c.i. 0.97 to 1.37) in the group that had open repair for rupture. The group that had endovascular repair for ruptured AAA was too small for meaningful analysis. Concluslon: Women with an AAA had a higher mortality rate following elective open and endovascular repair. Copyrigh

Treatment of post-implantation aneurysm growth by laparoscopic sac fenestration: Long-term results

Objectives: Sac growth after endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is an important finding, which may influence prognosis. In case of a type II endoleak or endotension, clipping of side branches and subsequent sac fenestration has been presented as a therapeutic alternative. The long-term clinical efficacy of this procedure is unknown. Methods: The study included eight patients who underwent laparoscopic aortic collateral clipping and sac fenestration for enlarging aneurysms following EVAR. Secondary interventions and clinical outcome were retrieved from hospital records. Sac behaviour was evaluated measuring volumes on periodical computed tomography angiography (CTA) imaging using dedicated software. Results: Follow-up had a median length of 6.6 (range 0.6-8.6) years. During this time, only three pati

The long-term prognostic value of the resting and postexercise ankle-brachial index

Background: Peripheral arterial disease is associated with a high incidence of cardiovascular mortality. Peripheral arterial disease can be detected by using the ankle-brachial index (ABI). This study assessed the prognostic value of the postexercise ABI in addition to the resting ABI on long-term mortality in patients with suspected peripheral arterial disease. Methods: In this prospective cohort study of 3209 patients (mean ± SD age, 63 ± 12 years; 71.1% male), resting and postexercise ABI values were measured and a reduction of postexercise ABI over baseline resting readings was calculated. The mean follow-up was 8 years (interquartile range, 4-11 years). Results: During follow-up, 1321 patients (41.2%) died. After adjusting for clinical risk factors, lower resting ABI values (hazard ratio per 0.10 lower ABI, 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06-1.10), lower postexercise ABI values (hazard ratio per 0.10 lower ABI, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.08-1.11), and higher reductions of ABI values over baseline readings (hazard ratio per 10% lower ABI, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.09-1.14) wer

Fluvastatin and perioperative events in patients undergoing vascular surgery

BACKGROUND: Adverse cardiac events are common after vascular surgery. We hypothesized that perioperative statin therapy would improve postoperative outcomes. METHODS: In this double-blind, placebo-co

Multicenter randomized controlled trial of the costs and effects of noninvasive diagnostic imaging in patients with peripheral arterial disease: The DIPAD trial

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of our study was to compare the costs and effects of three noninvasive imaging tests as the initial imaging test in the diagnostic workup of patients with peripheral arterial disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Of 984 patients assessed for eligibility, 514 patients with peripheral arterial disease were randomized to MR angiography (MRA) or duplex sonography in three hospitals and to MRA or CT angiography (CTA) in one hospital. The outcome measures included the clinical utility, functional patient outcomes, quality of life, and actual diagnostic and therapeutic costs related to the initial imaging test during 6 months of follow-up. RESULTS. With adjustment for potentially predictive baseline variables, the learning curve, and hospital setting, a significantly higher confidence and less additional imaging were found for MRA and CTA compared with duplex sonography. No statistically significant differences were found in improvement in functional patient outcomes and quality of life among the groups. The total costs were significantly higher for MRA and duplex sonography than for CTA. CONCLUSION. The results suggest that both CTA and MRA are clinically more useful than duplex sonography and that CTA leads to cost savings compared with both MRA and duplex

Long-term survival and secondary procedures after open or endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms

Objective Randomized trials have shown an initial survival benefit of endovascular over conventional open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair but no long-term difference up to 6 years after repair. Longer follow-up may be required to demonstrate the cumulative negative impact on survival of higher reintervention rates associated with endovascular repair. Methods We updated the results of the Dutch Randomized Endovascular Aneurysm Management (DREAM) trial, a multicenter, randomized controlled trial comparing open with endovascular aneurysm repair, up to 15 years of follow-up. Survival and reinterventions were analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis. Causes of death and secondary interventions were compared by use of an events per person-year analysis. Results There were 178 patients randomized to open and 173 to endovascular repair. Twelve years after randomization, the cumulative overall survival rates were 42.2% for open and 38.5% for endovascular repair, for a difference of 3.7 percentage points (95% confidence interval, −6.7 to 14.1; P =.48). The cumulative rates of freedom from reintervention were 78.9% for open repair and 62.2% for endovascular repair, for a difference of 16.7 percentage points (95% confidence interval, 5.8-27.6; P =.01). No differences were observed in causes of death. Cardiovascular and malignant disease account for the majority of deaths after prolonged follow-up. Conclusions During 12 years of follow-up, there was no survival difference between patients who underwent open or endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, despite a continuously increasing number of reinterventions in the endovascular repair group. Endograft durability and the need for continued endograft surveillance remain key issues

Long-term survival and secondary procedures after open or endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms

Objective Randomized trials have shown an initial survival benefit of endovascular over conventional open abdominal aortic aneurysm repair but no long-term difference up to 6 years after repair. Longer follow-up may be required to demonstrate the cumulative negative impact on survival of higher reintervention rates associated with endovascular repair. Methods We updated the results of the Dutch Randomized Endovascular Aneurysm Management (DREAM) trial, a multicenter, randomized controlled trial comparing open with endovascular aneurysm repair, up to 15 years of follow-up. Survival and reinterventions were analyzed on an intention-to-treat basis. Causes of death and secondary interventions were compared by use of an events per person-year analysis. Results There were 178 patients randomized to open and 173 to endovascular repair. Twelve years after randomization, the cumulative overall survival rates were 42.2% for open and 38.5% for endovascular repair, for a difference of 3.7 percentage points (95% confidence interval, −6.7 to 14.1; P =.48). The cumulative rates of freedom from reintervention were 78.9% for open repair and 62.2% for endovascular repair, for a difference of 16.7 percentage points (95% confidence interval, 5.8-27.6; P =.01). No differences were observed in causes of death. Cardiovascular and malignant disease account for the majority of deaths after prolonged follow-up. Conclusions During 12 years of follow-up, there was no survival difference between patients who underwent open or endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, despite a continuously increasing number of reinterventions in the endovascular repair group. Endograft durability and the need for continued endograft surveillance remain key issues