In Reply to: Case 0298_11--Infrarenal abdominal aortic traumatic rupture: Treatment with endoluminal covered stent posted by Editor on February 06, 1998 at 09:13:02:
Another interesting case showing the rapid advances in applications of covered stent technology as it continues to develop. As Moni said, what would be a complex operative procedure with prolonged recovery time can almost be converted to an outpatient procedure. Only time will tell as long term follow-up will be needed to look at the natural history of endovascular repair of vascular injuries. Given the large caliber of the vessel and the flow rates, I think this should be a durable result. As to the natural history of aortic injury without repair, one has to presume that the pseudoaneurysm, indicative of two or three layer wall disruption, will continue to grow over time and does need to be repaired. Based on the experience in the thoracic aorta, even traumatic pseudoaneurysms discovered 10-15 years after the acute injury still can rupture and the recommendation is to fix them.
The Corvita trials for trauma applications are ongoing and it will be interesting to examine the data generated from that trial which may expedite the approval of the Wallgraft.