The treatment of aortic dissection has already shifted to endovascular strategies. However, with the evolution of this disease and a deeper understanding of it, experts from various countries have developed a series of innovative endovascular techniques and devices in areas such as lumen reconstruction, false lumen embolization, entry sealing, and branch arteries reconstruction, targeting the long-term complication of chronic post-dissection thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm. The past few decades have seen that Chinese vascular surgeons have gradually emerged on the world stage and contributed multiple “Chinese solutions” for post-dissection thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm. The author in this review intends to provide an overview of these techniques and devices mentioned above.
The treatment of chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissection aneurysm remains a major challenge in aortic surgery. Open surgery is the mainstream treatment at present. New devices for endovascular treatment of chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissection are gradually applied in clinical practice. The hybrid procedure is a combination of open and endovascular procedures. The appropriate treatment should be selected according to the patient's age, anatomy, genetic aortic disease, and comorbidities.
Surgical intervention for chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissecting aneurysms (cTAADA) is regarded as one of the most challenging procedures in the field of vascular surgery. For nearly six decades, open repair predominantly utilizing prosthetic grafts has been the treatment of choice for cTAADA. With advances in minimally invasive endovascular technologies, two novel surgical approaches have emerged: total endovascular stent-graft repair and hybrid procedures combining retrograde debranching of visceral arteries with endovascular stent-graft repair (abbreviated as hybrid procedure). Although total endovascular stent-graft repair offers reduced trauma and quicker recovery, limitations persist in clinical application due to hostile anatomical requirements of the aorta, high costs, and the lack of universally available stent-graft products. Hybrid repair, integrating the minimally invasive ethos of endovascular repair with visceral artery debranching techniques, has increasingly become a significant surgical modality for managing thoracoabdominal aneurysms, especially in cases unsuitable for open surgery or total endovascular treatment due to anatomical constraints such as aortic tortuosity or narrow true lumens in dissections. Recent enhancements in hybrid surgical approaches include ongoing optimization of visceral artery reconstruction strategies based on hemodynamic analyses, and exploration of the comparative benefits of staged versus concurrent surgical interventions.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the feasibility, safety and efficacy of endovascular treatment for chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissection. MethodsThe patients with chronic thoracoabdominal aortic dissection who underwent total endovascular treatment at Shanghai City First People’s Hospital between December 2021 and March 2024 were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided into single-trunk group and double-trunk group according to the treatment methods. Clinical data including demographic characteristics, preoperative risk factors, surgical details, postoperative complications and long-term follow-up data were collected. Outcome measures mainly included surgical success rate, in-hospital mortality, endoleak rate and incidence of branch restenosis. ResultsThirty-four patients with thoracoabdominal aortic dissection were treat with total endovascular treatment. That success rate of operation was 100%. The in-hospital mortality was 2.94%. the incidence of paraplegia was 0.00%. the incidence of cerebral infarction was 2.94%. The incidence of type Ⅲ endoleak was 5.88%. The incidence of branch artery stenosis was 8.82%. The incidence of dissection progression was 8.82%. The reintervention rate was 14.71%. In the aspect of reconstruction of splanchnic artery branches, fenestration stent was the main method in the single-trunk group, and branch stent was the main method in the double-trunk group, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in perioperative and mid-term follow-up results between the two groups (P>0.05). ConclusionTotal endovascular treatment is a safe and effective treatment option for patients with thoracoabdominal aortic dissection.