title: Changes in false lumen after transluminal stent-graft placement in aortic dissections: six years' experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Transluminal stent-graft placements (TSGPs) are a new, less invasive procedure now recognized as the choice for aortic disease repair. Treatment of aortic dissections with TSGPs has resulted in good early results, but the long-term results and changes in the false lumen have not been elucidated in detail.
  
  
  RESULTS
  TSGPs were performed in 49 patients with primary tears in their descending aortas, and the follow-up period ranged from 4 months to 6 years. The patients were divided into 32 acute-onset and 17 chronic dissections; of the acute-onset cases, there were 15 Stanford type A retrograde dissections. Periodic enhanced spiral CT was conducted after TSGP. The false lumen in the ascending aorta in 14 (93%) of the Stanford type A cases was obliterated completely within 3 months. The CT study was continued for >2 years for 17 acute-onset dissection and 11 chronic dissection patients. The average false lumen diameters of the proximal, middle, and distal descending aorta before treatment were 15.9, 16.2, and 15.6 mm in the acute-onset dissection group and 28.1, 25.2, and 21.0 mm in the chronic dissection group, respectively. The false lumen diameters 2 years after treatment were 3.0, 3.7, and 3.1 mm in the acute-onset dissection group and 10.6, 10.5, and 11.9 mm in the chronic dissection group, respectively. Two years after TSGPs, the false lumen of the thoracic aorta totally disappeared in 76% of the acute-onset dissection group and 36% of the chronic dissection group. No cases showed rupture after TSGP.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Complete obliteration of the false lumen is more likely in acute-onset cases than in chronic cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Mie University School of Medicine, Tsu, Mie, Japan.
authors.forename: Hitoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kusagawa
authors.forename: Takatsugu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimono
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishida
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Fuyuhiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yasuda
authors.forename: Uhito
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Yuasa
authors.forename: Koji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Onoda
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yada
authors.forename: Tadanori
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirano
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015607:Stents / Q000009:adverse effects; D013927:Thrombosis / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome