Multibranched Stent-Grafts for the Treatment of Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysms

PURPOSE: To evaluate the available literature on endovascular repair of thoracoabdominal (TAAA) and pararenal aortic aneurysms (PRAA) using multibranched stent-grafts. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched between January 2001 and June 2015 to identify articles related to the use of multibranched stent-grafts for the treatment of TAAA and PRAA. Articles with <4 cases and those on juxtarenal aortic aneurysms were excluded. Meta-analyses were conducted to evaluate 30-day mortality, all-cause mortality, spinal cord ischemia, renal insufficiency, endoleak, target vessel patency, and reintervention. Of 370 articles screened, only 4 articles encompassing 185 patients (mean age 71.1 years; 137 men) were aligned with the inclusion criteria. There were 23 PRAAs; the mean aneurysm diameter was 64.5 mm. The Crawford TAAA classification was 10 type I, 47 type II, 37 type III, 58 type IV, and 9 type V; there was 1 Stanford type B dissection in association with a large TAAA. Results of the meta-analyses are reported as proportions and 95% confidence interval (CI). RESULTS: Pooled analysis indicated a technical success rate of 98.9%. As study heterogeneity was significant, random effects models were used for meta-analysis. The rate for 30-day mortality was 9% (95% CI 3% to 19%), for all-cause mortality 27% (95% CI 17% to 38%), endoleaks 10% (95% CI 1% to 25%), target vessel patency 98% (95% CI 95% to 99%), SCI 17% (95% CI 1% to 26%), irreversible SCI 6% (95% CI 3% to 10%), renal insufficiency 15% (95% CI 0.8% to 41%), and reinterventions 21% (95% CI 4% to 47%). CONCLUSION: Use of multibranched stent-grafts in the treatment of TAAAs and PRAAs appears to be feasible and safe based on satisfactory early outcomes in the limited literature available to date. Long-term surveillance and further studies are essential to determine the durability of this technique.