RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Acute traumatic injury of the thoracic aorta (TAI) is a life-threatening complication in patients who sustain deceleration or crush injuries. This study was conducted to examine the results in patients who underwent endovascular repair with the Talent (Medtronic/AVE, Santa Rosa, CA) thoracic stent graft for acute traumatic injury. METHODS: Out of 457 consecutive endograft patients, 41 (9%) were treated for traumatic aortic conditions. There were 36 males with a mean age of 36 +/- 14 years. Mean aortic diameter at the time of intervention was 34 mm +/- 9 (range, 20 to 70 mm). The mean length of covered aorta was 106 mm (range, 5 to 130 mm) with only one stent graft used in 98% (40) of all cases. Median follow-up period for hospital survivors was 13 months (1.0 to 69.0 months). RESULTS: Stent graft implantation was technically successful in all cases (100%). One patient died during hospitalization, yielding an overall in-hospital mortality rate of 2.4%. Procedural-related paraplegia was zero and a primary endoleak was observed in 1 patient. Postoperative complications occurred in 4 patients (3 respiratory failures, 1 multiorgan failure). No patient required conversion to open surgical repair. CONCLUSIONS: The treatment of acute traumatic injuries of the descending thoracic aorta with the Talent stent graft is a feasible and safe technique; it provides low morbidity and mortality rates in the early postoperative period, and early results are encouraging. However, long-term studies are worthwhile to evaluate the effectiveness and the durability of this procedure.