Is the endovascular procedure an option for treatment of cronic type B aortic dissections?

OBJECTIVE Questions regarding the specific patient/disease that should be submitted to the endovascular procedure still remain unclear. The purpose of this report is to evaluate the endovascular treatment in chronic type B aortic dissections. METHODS Between 2003 and 2006, 11 patients with chronic type B aortic dissection were submitted to endovascular procedure through femoral artery. All of them were monitored with CT within 6 months, 1 year and afterwars anually. We prospectively evaluated false lumen patency and thoracic and abdominal aortic diameters in each time point. The data comparisons were made using Anova and chi-square tests with SPSS 13. RESULTS The endovascular stent-graft deployment was technically successful for all patients, with no hospital mortality. During the follow-up period the false lumen flows remained persistent in the thorax in 27.3% of the patients and in the abdomen in 81.8%. However, in all patients, in both segments, the aorta diameter was not significantly changed in size and shape. CONCLUSION Despite the small number of studied patients, the endovascular procedure for chronic type B aortic dissections does not appear to be an option for the treatment of these patients.