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Purpose: The Provisional Extension to Induce Complete Attachment Technique (PETTICOAT) uses a bare-metal stent to scaffold the true lumen in patients with acute or subacute aortic dissections. While it is designed to facilitate remodeling, some patients with chronic post-dissection thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) require repair. This study describes the technical pitfalls of fenestrated-branched endovascular aortic repair (FB-EVAR) in patients who underwent prior PETTICOAT repair., Technique: We report 3 patients with extent II TAAAs who had prior bare-metal dissection stents treated by FB-EVAR. Two patients required maneuvers to reroute the aortic guidewire, which was initially placed in-between stent struts. This was recognized before the deployment of the fenestrated-branched device. A third patient had difficult advancement of the celiac bridging stent due to a conflict of the tip of the stent delivery system into one of the stent struts, requiring to redo catheterization and pre-stenting with a balloon-expandable stent. There were no mortalities and target-related events after a follow-up of 12 to 27 months., Conclusion: FB-EVAR following the PETTICOAT is infrequent, but technical difficulties should be recognized to prevent complications from the inadvertent deployment of the fenestrated-branched stent-graft component in-between stent struts., Clinical Impact: The present study highlights a few maneuvers to prevent or overcome possible complications during endovascular repair of chronic post-dissection thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm following PETTICOAT. The main problem to be recognized is the placement of the aortic wire beyond one of the struts of the existing bare-metal stent. Moreover, encroachment of catheters or the bridging stent delivery system into the stent struts may potentially cause difficulties., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of blood loss and transfusion requirements on clinical outcomes of patients treated by fenestrated-branched endovascular aortic repair (F-BEVAR) for pararenal (PRA) and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs)., Methods: We reviewed the clinical data of 370 consecutive patients (277 male, mean age 74 ± 10 years) treated by F-BEVAR between 2007 and 2017. Outcomes were estimated blood loss (EBL), use of intraoperative blood salvage (IOBS), transfusion of packed red blood cells (PRBCs), mortality, and major adverse events (MAEs)., Results: There were 189 patients (51%) treated for PRAs and 181 patients (49%) treated for TAAAs. IOBS was used in 194 patients (52%) and transfusion of PRBCs was needed in 137 (37%). Thirty-day mortality was 2.2% (8/370) and MAEs occurred in 123 patients (33%), including 74 patients (20%) who had EBL > 1L. EBL > 1L and transfusion of PRBCs were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in patients treated in the first half of clinical experience and in those with larger aneurysms, iliofemoral conduits, bilateral open surgical femoral access and Extent I-III TAAAs. Use of DrySeal ® sheaths (WL Gore, Flagstaff AZ) was associated with significantly lower (P < .05) EBL volume and with less transfusion of PRBCs. On multivariate analysis PRBCs > 1L, male gender and the last half of clinical experience were associated with MAEs/mortality., Conclusions: F-BEVAR was associated with significantly higher volume of blood loss and transfusion requirements in patients treated in the early experience and in those who had iliofemoral conduits, open femoral surgical exposure or Extent I-III TAAAs.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and outcomes of endovascular repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) using a novel low profile (LP) device with upper extremity preloaded guidewire system (PGS) and compare procedural metrics and outcomes with a standard multibranch stent graft (t-Branch; Cook Medical, Bloomington, Ind)., Methods: We reviewed the clinical data of 232 consecutive patients treated by fenestrated-branched endovascular aortic repair for TAAA and enrolled in a prospective nonrandomized trial between 2014 and 2017. Patients who had repair using t-Branch or patient-specific TAAA devices using upper extremity LP-PGS were included. End points were technical success, operative and fluoroscopic time, patient radiation exposure, time from arterial access to complete device deployment, total contrast volume, and 30-day rates of major adverse events (MAEs) and mortality., Results: There were 54 patients, including 33 males (67%) and 21 females (33%), with a mean age of 73 ± 9 years old. Forty-nine patients (91%) had extent I-III and five patients (9%) had extent IV TAAAs. Device design was t-Branch in 24 patients (44%) and LP-PGS in 30 patients (56%). A total of 206 renal-mesenteric arteries were incorporated with no difference between groups (mean, 3.8 ± 0.6 target vessels/patient; P = .92). Patients treated by t-Branch device had larger mean aneurysm diameter (79 ± 16 vs 66 ± 10 mm; P = .0006). All patients had transbrachial approach. Technical success was achieved in all patients in both groups. Patients treated by LP-PGS devices had lower radiation dose (1250 ± 849 vs 3154 ± 2421 mGy; P = .003) and shorter operating time for complete device deployment (105 ± 42 vs 123 ± 34 minutes; P = .043). There was no difference in mean operative time (252 ± 69 vs 273 ± 56 minutes; P = .23), fluoroscopy time (82 ± 29 vs 96 ± 35 minutes; P = .08) or contrast volume (163 ± 59 vs 197 ± 75 mL; P = .07) comparing LP-PGS and t-Branch respectively. There was no 30-day or in-hospital mortality. There were no differences in MAEs, which occurred in 18 patients (33%) in both groups (P > .05)., Conclusions: Endovascular TAAA repair using the standard or LP-PGS multibranch stent graft was associated with high technical success, no mortality, and a low rate of MAEs in this study. Patients treated by upper extremity LP-PGS had shorter time to complete device deployment, suggesting decreased technical demand with preloaded systems., (Copyright © 2019 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The aim of this study is to describe a modification technique using the low-profile Cook Zenith Alpha™ thoracic stent graft, and addition of a preloaded wire system, for urgent repair of pararenal (PRA) and thoracoabdominal (TAAA) aortic aneurysms., Methods: We analyzed 20 consecutive patients who underwent urgent physician modified endograft repair (PMEG) of PRA and TAAA at 2 institutions. The low-profile Cook Zenith Alpha Thoracic stent graft was modified in accordance with each specific patient anatomic characteristics. End points were technical success, 30-day mortality, and major adverse events (MAEs)., Results: Technical success was achieved in all patients (100%). A total of 76 renal-mesenteric arteries were incorporated by fenestrations (70%) or directional branches (30%) with an average of 3.7 ± 0.6 vessels per patient. There were 6 different types of stent configuration. The most common design consisted of 4 fenestrations (9 patients, 45%). The average of modification time was 110 ± 27 minutes. Total procedure time (including the time for open component) was 242 ± 75 minutes. There was no death within the first 30 days or hospital stay. MAEs occurred in 10 patients (50%). The most common MAEs were acute kidney injury (by Risk, Injury, and Failure; and Loss; and End-stage kidney disease criteria) in 6 patients (30%), estimated blood loss >1 L, respiratory failure requiring reintubation in 2 patients (10%) each, and paraplegia and ischemic colitis in 1 patient (5%) each. One patient (5%) required temporary, new-onset dialysis., Conclusions: PMEG using low-profile Zenith Alpha thoracic stent graft was safe with no early mortality and acceptable early morbidity., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Fenestrated-branched endovascular repair has been applied to treat chronic postdissection thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs). We report a patient with diffuse postdissection aortic aneurysm involving the arch and thoracoabdominal aorta treated in a staged fashion with redo aortic arch repair using the frozen elephant trunk technique, followed by completion endovascular TAAA using preloaded guidewire system and a five-vessel fenestrated and branched stent graft. A technical video illustrates the use of onlay fusion and sequential catheterization with the preloaded guidewire system to facilitate TAAA repair., (Copyright © 2018 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)