Treatment of Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysmal Degeneration Following Aortic Dissections at a Single Surgical Center Using a Physician-Assembled Branched Endovascular Stent Graft

Background: Aneurysmal degeneration of aortic dissection portends significant morbidity and mortality consequences in the subacute and chronic phases of aortic dissection. This article de-scribes the use of a multibranched stent graft system for the treatment of thoracoabdominal aneurysmal degeneration of dissections with visceral segment involvement and reports upon the 30-day and 1-year outcomes for the first 18 patients treated with this design configuration. Methods: The in-hospital, 30-day and 1-year morbidity and mortality outcomes of 18 consecu-tive patients treated with the physician-assembled visceral manifold or unitary manifold stent graft systems between 2013 and 2022 were evaluated. Results: A total of 18 patients were treated for aneurysmal changes after aortic dissection. A total of 71 visceral vessels were successfully stented. There were no acute procedural failures. There were no episodes of paraplegia, reinterventions for type I or III endoleaks, patency-related events or mortalities reported in the first 30 days following treatment. One-year, all-cause mor-tality demonstrated 2/11 (18.2%). Conclusions: The aneurysmal degeneration of aortic dissection poses significant risks to pa-tients with medically managed aortic dissections and those under surveillance. When these an-eurysms develop in the thoracoabdominal region, treatment becomes even more challenging given the problem of visceral vessel patency, as these vessels can originate off the true or false lumens. The physician-designed endovascular stent graft system reported upon here has been successfully deployed in 18 patients with no acute procedural failures and promising clinical re-sults. This treatment modality may offer utility to vascular surgeons whose patients with thora-coabdominal aneurysmal degeneration following aortic dissection have historically had limited endovascular repair prospects.