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Background: This study's objective is to describe outcomes of adult patients who underwent thoracic stent graft placement treatment for primary or recurrent aortic coarctation., Methods: This is a retrospective study of 30 adult patients who underwent thoracic stent graft placement for aortic coarctation at our institution. Average age was 46.5 years, with 53.3% of patients presented with no prior treatment or repair for coarctation. Indications for repair included gradient ≥20 mm Hg with anatomic evidence of coarctation on imaging with left ventricular hypertrophy, pseudoaneurysm, aneurysm, refractory hypertension, or claudication. Stent grafts used for repair included MDT (Medtronic, Santa Rosa, CA) and GORE TAG (W. L. Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, AZ)., Results: Patients were observed for a median of 979 days, with one death during the study. All patients had complete resolution of symptoms with no recurrences. Thoracic endovascular aortic repair significantly reduced the gradient across the coarctation (P < 0.0001). Aortic coarctation diameter significantly increased at 30 days postoperatively and continued to increase up to 5 years posttreatment. At 3+ years, aortic remodeling was observed at the coarctation site and surrounding regions. At 30 days, systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressure were all reduced. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure continued to significantly improve 1-year posttreatment., Conclusions: Stent grafts are a safe and effective treatment for aortic coarctation. We observed a clinically significant improvement in blood pressure and longitudinal aortic remodeling of the coarctation segment and the entire aorta that persisted more than more than 3 years., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: None.

Background: To evaluate differences in presentation and outcomes between sexes in patients who underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair for type B aortic dissection (TBAD)., Methods: Between January 1, 2012 and January 1, 2017 186 patients underwent thoracic endovascular aortic repair for TBAD at a single institution. Men (n = 112) and women (n = 74) were compared based on presenting demographics, comorbidities, and postoperative complications. Primary outcomes were survival and need for reintervention., Results: Women were older (P = 0.04) and had a lower body mass index (P = 0.03). More women (F) presented with continued pain or refractory hypertension (51.0% F, 30.0% M), while more men (M) presented with acute complicated dissections (19.0% F, 39.0% M) (P = 0.008). At presentation, women had statistically higher relative rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (P = 0.05), hyperlipidemia (P = 0.03), and smoking (P = 0.03). Significantly more women were on Medicare without Medicaid (55.0% F, 34.0% M), while men had private insurance (35.0% F, 13.0% M) (P = 0.005). There was no significant difference in blood pressure control at presentation, discharge, or at 30 days. When normalized by body surface area, women had larger ascending aortic diameters (19.2(3.10)F, 17.5(2.40)M, P = 0.0002), as well as proportionally larger true lumens at the left subclavian artery (14.9(2.90)F, 13.4(2.50)M, P = 0.0002), carina (12.6(5.80)F, 9.90(4.80)M, P = 0.0009), and celiac (10.5(4.50)F, 8.50(4.10)M, P = 0.006) levels, and at the largest point of dissection (11.6(6.50)F, 9.60(4.80)M, P = 0.04), as well as proportionately smaller false lumens at the carina (5.90(5.60)F, 9.30(6.10)M, P = 0.003). Despite not being statistically significant, women had lower rates of stroke (6.80% F, 8.00% M, P = 0.7) and acute kidney injury (5.40% F, 11.6% M, P = 0.2), as well fewer days in the intensive care unit (ICU) (3.20(4.30)F, 4.60(6.60)M, P = 0.2) and an overall shorter length of stay (6.80(6.70)F, 8.00(8.20)M, P = 0.5). Kaplan-Meier estimates for survival for women versus men were 96.0% vs. 92.0%, 90.0% vs. 79.0%, and 70.0% vs. 69.0% at 30 days, 1 year, and 3 years, respectively (P = 0.042). Kaplan-Meier estimates for freedom from reintervention for women versus men were 89.0% vs. 90.0%, 58.0% vs. 72.0%, and 48.0% vs. 58.0% at 30 days, 1 year, and 3 years, respectively (P = 0.13)., Conclusions: Women present with TBAD at an older age, have more comorbidities, lower socioeconomic status, and have larger ascending aortic diameters for their size. Despite having less severe dissections as evidenced by smaller false lumens and wider true lumens, it does not appear that this correlates with improved outcomes for women when compared to men. It appears that this is one of the few, if not only, aortic pathologies that result in comparable outcomes between sexes., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Hostile aortic neck anatomies such as proximal short necks are known to put patients at an increased risk for type IA endoleaks, migration, and need for reinterventions. The Heli-FX EndoAnchor System was designed to improve seal of aortic stent grafts. Endosuture aneurysm repair (ESAR) using EndoAnchors with the Endurant stent graft has been shown to be safe and effective for the treatment of patients with short necks through one year. This study reports the 5-year patient outcomes of the Aneurysm Treatment using the Heli-FX EndoAnchor System Global Registry (ANCHOR) short neck regulatory cohort., Methods: The 70 patients from the ANCHOR Registry were cohort submitted to regulators for approval of the Endurant short neck indication. Patients had an infrarenal neck length of ≥ 4 mm and <10 mm. At 5 years, this short neck cohort had clinical and imaging follow-up compliance rates of 85% (28/33) and 70% (23/33), respectively., Results: The short neck cohort had a mean age of 71.3±8.1 years and was 27.1% (19/70) female. Kaplan Meier freedom from all-cause mortality was 68.5 ± 6.2%, freedom from aneurysm-related mortality was 90.1 ± 4.5%, freedom from any endovascular or surgical secondary procedure was 76.9 ± 7.2%, and freedom from rupture was 95.6 ± 3.2%. Eight patients had a total of nine type IA endoleaks detected through 5 years, of which three resolved spontaneously by the next follow-up visit. There were two patients with renal complications who did not undergo reintervention and there were no device migrations reported through 5 years. After 5 years, 68.2% of patients (15/22) had sac regression, 13.6% (3/22) had stable sacs, and 18.2% (4/22) had increased sac diameter as compared with their 1-month measurements., Conclusions: After ESAR treatment using Heli-FX EndoAnchors with Endurant, the 5-year outcomes of the short neck cohort from the ANCHOR registry had encouraging results with regards to proximal neck-related complications, secondary procedures, and sac regression. This review of ESAR in patients with short proximal necks showed positive outcomes through 5 years although follow-up of a larger cohort is necessary., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Objective: Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) have a significant risk of myocardial infarction and death secondary to concomitant coronary artery disease (CAD). This is particularly true in patients with critical limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) who exceed a 20% mortality rate at 6 months despite standard treatment with risk factor modification. Although systematic preoperative coronary testing is not recommended for patients with PAD without cardiac symptoms, the clinical manifestations of CAD are often muted in patients with CLTI due to poor mobility and activity intolerance. Thus, the true incidence and impact of "silent" CAD in a CLTI cohort is unknown. This study aims to determine the prevalence of ischemia-producing coronary artery stenosis in a CLTI cohort using coronary computed tomography angiography (cCTA) and computed tomography (CT)-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR CT ), a noninvasive imaging modality that has shown significant correlation to cardiac catheterization in the detection of clinically relevant coronary ischemia., Methods: Patients presenting with newly diagnosed CLTI at our institution from May 2020 to April 2021 were screened for underlying CAD. Included subjects had no known history of CAD, no cardiac symptoms, and no anginal equivalent complaints at presentation. Patients underwent cCTA and FFR CT evaluation and were classified by the anatomic location and severity of CAD. Significant coronary ischemia was defined as FFR CT ≤0.80 distal to a >30% coronary stenosis, and severe coronary ischemia was documented at FFR CT ≤0.75, consistent with established guidelines., Results: A total of 170 patients with CLTI were screened; 65 patients (38.2%) had no coronary symptoms and met all inclusion/exclusion criteria. Twenty-four patients (31.2%) completed cCTA and FFR CT evaluation. Forty-one patients have yet to complete testing secondary to socioeconomic factors (insurance denial, transportation inaccessibility, testing availability, etc). The mean age of included subjects was 65.4 ± 7.0 years, and 15 (62.5%) were male. Patients presented with ischemic rest pain (n = 7; 29.1%), minor tissue loss (n = 14; 58.3%) or major tissue loss (n = 3; 12.5%). Significant (≥50%) coronary artery stenosis was noted on cCTA in 19 of 24 patients (79%). Significant left main coronary artery stenosis was identified in two patients (10%). When analyzed with FFR CT , 17 patients (71%) had hemodynamically significant coronary ischemia (FFR CT ≤0.8), and 54% (n = 13) had lesion-specific severe coronary ischemia (FFR CT ≤0.75). The mean FFR CT in patients with coronary ischemia was 0.70 ± 0.07. Multi-vessel disease pattern was present in 53% (n = 9) of patients with significant coronary stenosis., Conclusions: The use of cCTA-derived fractional flow reserve demonstrates a significant percentage of patients with CLTI have silent (asymptomatic) coronary ischemia. More than one-half of these patients have lesion-specific severe ischemia, which may be associated with increased mortality when treated solely with risk factor modification. cCTA and FFR CT diagnosis of significant coronary ischemia has the potential to improve cardiac care, perioperative morbidity, and long-term survival curves of patients with CLTI. Systemic improvements in access to care will be needed to allow for broad application of these imaging assessments should they prove universally valuable. Additional study is required to determine the benefit of selective coronary revascularization in patients with CLTI., (© 2023 The Author(s).)

Case: An 18-year-old woman with a history of congenital pseudarthrosis of the clavicle (CPC) presented with episodes of right upper extremity ischemia. Vascular studies demonstrated an extensive thrombus with complete occlusion of the brachial artery. She underwent urgent thrombectomy. Subsequently, she underwent first rib resection and scalenectomy as well as pseudarthrosis takedown and fixation. Postoperatively, she returned to Division I collegiate soccer with complete symptomatic resolution., Conclusion: We report a case of arterial thoracic outlet syndrome secondary to CPC., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest forms are provided with the online version of the article (http://links.lww.com/JBJSCC/B968)., (Copyright © 2023 by The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Incorporated.)