title: Traumatic Aortic Injury: Single-center Comparison of Open versus Endovascular Repair.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Conventional open repair is a suboptimal therapy for blunt traumatic aortic injury (BTAI) due to the high postoperative mortality and morbidity rates. Recent advances in the thoracic endovascular repair technique may improve outcomes so that it becomes an attractive therapeutic option.
  
  
  METHODS
  From August 2003 to March 2012, 21 patients (mean age, 45.81 years) with BTAI were admitted to our institution. Of these, 18 cases (open repair in 11 patients and endovascular repair in 7 patients) were retrospectively reviewed and the early perioperative results of the two groups were compared.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although not statistically significant, there was a trend toward the reduction of mortality in the endovascular repair group (18.2% vs. 0%). There were no cases of paraplegia or endoleak. Statistically significant reductions in heparin dosage, blood loss, and transfusion amounts during the operations and in procedure duration were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Compared with open repair, endovascular repair can be performed with favorable mortality and morbidity rates. However, relatively younger patients who have acute aortic arch angulation and a small aortic diameter may be a therapeutic challenge. Improvements in graft design, delivery sheaths, and graft durability are the cornerstone of successful endovascular repair.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, Korea.
authors.forename: Jun Woo
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Oh Choon
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Sub
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jang
keywords: Aorta; Endovascular stent; Trauma