Endovascular treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm

BACKGROUND: Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm has become widely used. Supporters claim high success rates, few complications and a dramatically reduced hospital stay. However, endoleak, endotension and reports of endoprosthesis rupture are causes of concern. METHODS: A Medline search was undertaken to identify articles on endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm. Additional papers were identified by manual scanning of the references from key articles. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Endoleak is a potentially serious complication of the endovascular technique and occurs in a significant proportion of patients. It is still not possible to judge whether the presence of an endoleak alone signifies failure of treatment, and the long-term durability of prosthetic covered stents is unknown. However, endovascular repair does appear to confer a degree of protection from rupture although patients must be advised of the need for life-long imaging surveillance and, perhaps, further intervention.