title: Current indication for endovascular treatment of thoracic aneurysms.
abstract: The morbidity and mortality for open treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms have declined over the years, but it is still a major clinical problem. The reason for the mortality is in almost 50% of the cases cardiac failure. Endoluminal treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm is widely distributed and with promising results, although not as free from complications as expected 10 years ago. This technique has also been adopted for the thoracic aortic aneurysm as the trauma is much less than in open surgery. In our own personal series no specific workup for coronary heart disease has been made and the mortality of stentgrafting of the thoracic aorta was 2.4%. A survey of the world literature, including elective and acute dissections and aneurysms revealed 642 patients treated with stentgraft with a mortality of 6.2%, although no cardiologic work up had been performed. These numbers compete well with those of open surgery, but a systematic prospective comparison would be needed in order to state the real mortality in both groups.
authors.affiliation: Unit of Vascular Surgery, University Clinics, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany. brunkwall@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brunkwall
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gawenda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Südkamp
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zähringer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000800:Angioplasty, Balloon; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D002423:Cause of Death; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D015607:Stents; D015996:Survival Rate