title: AAA stent-grafts: past problems and future prospects.
abstract: Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) has quickly gained popularity for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm repair during the last two decades. The improvement of available EVAR devices is critical for the advancement of patient care in vascular surgery. Problems are still associated with the grafts, many of which can necessitate the conversion of the patient to open repair, or even result in rupture of the aneurysm. This review attempts to address these problems, by highlighting why they occur and what the failings of the currently available stent grafts are, respectively. In addition, the review gives critical appraisal as to the novel methods required for dealing with these problems and identifies the new generation of stent grafts that are being or need to be designed and constructed in order to overcome the issues that are associated with the existing first- and second-generation devices.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surgery & Interventional Science, Centre for Nanotechnology & Regenerative Medicine, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Mital
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Eaton-Evans
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hillery
authors.forename: Raheleh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bakhshi
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Alexander M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Seifalian
mesh_terms: D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D011475:Prosthesis Failure; D015607:Stents / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000639:trends*