Search

Endovascular treatment established itself last years as the first choice to treat femoropopliteal arterial occlusive disease. It is less invasive than the surgical approach. Endovascular techniques and devices evolution made it efficient. Use of retrograde puncture or re-entry catheters allows to recanalize more complex lesions. Vessel preparation of stenotic or occluded target lesion becomes an integral part of the therapy. Thanks to a lot of multicenter randomized controlled trials, drug eluting balloons took major place in the armamentarium we have, despite strong controversies last months about their safety. Conventional self-expandable stents with or without eluting drug, and vasculo-mimetic stents allow to treat very calcified lesions or dissected lesions through the recanalization procedure. This paper aims to review endovascular technical developments achieved last years to treat femoropopliteal arterial occlusive disease.

There is a continuous growth in the incidence of cardiovascular and thoracic diseases, especially related to the increased life expectancy. Moreover, the quality and efficacy of care for these pathologies are progressing constantly. The evolution of surgery prompts us to develop less aggressive (minimally invasive), although technically more complex, treatment or diagnostic techniques. Pathologies, which until now required heavy surgeries, are managed today in a less invasive way and become therefore accessible to patients even if they are older or in a poor general condition. In this article, we present our experience in the development of the minimal invasive procedures in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.

Chronic mesenteric ischemia is a rare and challenging clinical entity with non-specific complaints. It concerns mainly elderly patients with a diffuse atherosclerotic burden affecting other vascular beds. Most surgeons have limited experience with the management of symptomatic occlusive disease of the superior mesenteric artery or coeliac trunk. Last decades, the mesenteric revascularisation debate has also been implicated by the endovascular vogue. An endovascular-first strategy has been adopted in most centres, considering its less invasive character, with lower peri-procedural morbidity and mortality and more rapid recovery. The volume of mesenteric artery stenting has steadily increased over time. However, the long-term results of percutaneous mesenteric angioplasty and stenting are worse than those obtained with open surgery. Currently, many centres reserve open repair for cases in whom PTA failed. This extensive literature review aims to orientate decision-making and choice of revascularisation modality for chronic mesenteric ischemia, considering a significant patient heterogeneity.

Acute mesenteric ischemia is a real life-threatening emergency. Mode of presentation is severe abdominal pain with sudden onset. The etiology is most of the time embolus coming from the heart or thrombosis of atherosclerotic vessel wall concerning the superior mesenteric artery. The best investigation is computed tomography with intravenous contrast media injection. Treatment consists of revascularization by open surgery or endovascular approach. Bowel resection may be necessary, as well as delayed second look surgery. This paper aims to review etiologies and therapeutics options for acute mesenteric ischemia.

Intramural hematoma of the ascending aorta occurs after rupture of the vasa vasorum. Previously considered as a first step of acute aortic dissection, it was later defined as a separate entity that may or may not lead to arterial dissection. The debate about the most appropriate treatment for a 69-year-old patient with intramural hematoma of the ascending aorta, led to this extensive review of the literature demonstrating that intramural hematoma type A is a life-threatening condition requiring urgent surgical support., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Despite major advances in the contemporary management of peripheral arterial occlusive disease, acute ischemia of the lower limb is still characterized by an important morbidity, limb threat, and mortality, and continues to pose a challenge to the vascular surgeon. Ageing of the population increases the prevalence of acute lower limb ischemia. The two principal etiologies of acute ischemia of the lower limbs are arterial embolism and in situ thrombosis of an atherosclerotic artery or of a bypass graft. Popliteal aneurysm thrombosis and vascular trauma are less common causes of severe limb ischemia. Prompt recognition and treatment of acute limb ischemia in an urgent setting are crucial, in order to shorten as much as possible the duration of the ischemia. This paper highlights diagnostic work-up (staging of the severity of ischemia) and appropriate management of acute ischemia of the lower limb. Different procedures of revascularization (operative clot removal, catheter-directed thrombolysis, bypass grafting are evaluated and their outcome results are compared.

Background: Percutaneous angioplasty of the superficial femoral artery (SFA) with paclitaxel-coated balloon, intended to reduce restenosis, has been proven safe and effective in recent randomized controlled trials., Objective: To assess outcome results of angioplasty of the SFA with paclitaxel-coated balloon in claudicants in real-world practice of a single center., Material & Methods: A continuous prospective cohort study of 53 claudicants (62 lower limbs) from January 2015 to December 2016. Study end points include primary patency, freedom from clinically driven target-lesion revascularization and symptom relief., Results: It concerns 17 women (32%) and 36 men (68%) with a mean age of 67.8 years, suffering life-style-limiting claudication. Only short to intermediate-length stenoses or occlusions (30.6%), with a mean length of 59.6 mm were selected for percutaneous angioplasty with a paclitaxel-coated balloon. Technical success was 100%. At 16 months, primary patency attained 92.0% (3 early occlusions, 2 restenoses). There were two re-interventions at 6 and 9 months, resulting in a clinically driven target lesion revascularization rate of 3.2%. At the end of the follow-up of 16 months, all but two patients (96.2%) remained symptom-free. Two patients died during follow-up (no procedure-related deaths)., Conclusion: Paclitaxel-coated balloon angioplasty of the SFA gives in routine clinical practice excellent midterm results, with a restenosis rate of 6.5% at 1 year. This procedure has authors' preference as first-choice technique for correction of short- and intermediate-length symptomatic stenoses of the SFA.

Background: Penetrating aortic ulcer is a rare pathology, often clinically silent, but potentially fatal when manifesting as an acute aortic syndrome. It is more often detected in recent years, due to ageing of the population and more widespread use of computed tomography. A literature review aims to define the distinct disease entity of penetrating aortic ulcer., Methods: Five recent cases of penetrating aortic ulcer, treated in authors' department are reported. A review of English-language medical literature from 1980 to 2015 was undertaken using PubMed and EMBASE databases, to identify studies reporting surgical (open and endovascular) treatment of penetrating aortic ulcer., Results: From September 2013 to September 2015, five cases of acute aortic syndrome caused by a penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer of the descending thoracic aorta were observed in authors' department. This represents 9% of all acute aortic syndromes admitted to our hospital in the same period. All five patients benefitted from thoracic endovascular stent grafting with a 100% success rate. Natural history and optimal management of penetrating aortic ulcer are outlined according to the most recent insights., Conclusion: Penetrating aortic ulcer represents 2-7% of all acute aortic syndromes. Symptomatic penetrating aortic ulcer requires coverage by thoracic endovascular stent grafting according to the recent guidelines.

We report a case of post-traumatic chronic false aneurysm of the aortic isthmus in a 34-year-old man who had been involved in a car accident 10 years earlier. An initial chest X-ray demonstrated a calcified mass in the upper mediastinum and computed tomography scan revealed a false aneurysm of the aortic isthmus arising above the left subclavian artery. Partial covered rupture of the aorta is not always easy to diagnose and can remain clinically silent in a polytrauma patient. The duration from rupture to false aneurysm formation may extend over many years. This chronic lesion can be managed by surgery, by an endovascular procedure, or by a combined procedure. This case report highlights the current therapeutic approach. A debranching procedure was done in view of a secondary exclusion of the huge false aneurysm by a stent graft. Unfortunately, the false aneurysm ruptured during the procedure and a replacement of the aortic arch and the isthmus under total circulatory arrest was successfully done. The patient was doing well at 9-month follow-up., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study was to evaluate a percutaneous extravascular closure device (StarClose, Abbott Vascular, Redwood City, CA) after brachial endovascular approach. From 2004 to 2006, 29 patients received StarClose for brachial closure. Primary endpoints were successful deployment and absence of procedure-related morbidity, secondary endpoints were brachial artery patency on duplex and absence of late (> 30 days) complications. The device was successfully deployed in all patients. In two patients (6.8%) local complications occurred: one patient developed a large hematoma successfully treated with prolonged compression and a second patient presented with brachial artery occlusion requiring operative intervention. After a mean follow-up of 7.5+/-7.2 months, all patients had a palpable brachial/radial pulse; none had signs of infection, distal embolization or neurological deficits. On ultrasound b-mode imaging, the clip was visible as a 4 mm echolucent area at the outer anterior wall of the artery. Based on the peak systolic velocity ratios between the site of StarClose and proximal brachial artery (mean 1.08+/-0.2), none of the studied patients had a significant stenosis at the site of closure. StarClose is safe and effective in providing hemostasis following interventional procedures through the brachial artery; further advantages include patients comfort and early discharge.