RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Transfemoral endoluminal repair of AAA, introduced for the first time in the early 90's, has become a very promising alternative to conventional open repair and more and more centers are reporting satisfactory postoperative results in a high percentage of cases. Straight and bifurcated grafts represent the devices available on the market at present and aortic, as well as iliac aneurysmal lesions can be safely treated through a transfemoral approach. The possibility to indicate an endovascular AAA repair is related to the configuration (length and size) of the proximal and distal necks, tortuosity and calcification of the access arteries and to vascular and non-vascular comorbidities, which afflict the patients. The objective of our study was to evaluate the early and late postoperative results in a series of patients affected by infrarenal AAA, who underwent endoluminal repair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From December 1996 to 31 October 1997 in 5 different European Centers, 100 Medtronic AneuRx bifurcated stent grafts were implanted for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms. The diameter of the AAA varied from 33 to 77 mm (average 64 mm) and the mean age of the patients was 70.8 years (51-87 years). In one patient with a 33 mm diameter of the aneurysm, the surgical procedure was indicated because the size of the aneurysm had increased by 5 mm, compared to the previous control made 2 months before. In addition the aneurysm became symptomatic. There were 92 male and 8 female patients. The average time of the surgical procedure was 150 minutes (75-480 minutes) with an average blood loss of 570 ml (100-2,600 ml).