Mini-Surgical Access Prevents Local Complications and Reduces Costs in Endovascular Aortic Repair.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to propose a minimally invasive surgical approach to the common femoral artery in endovascular aortic repair and assess its value by a single-center retrospective study including 118 patients. METHODS: Between 2017 and 2022, all patients receiving endovascular treatment for thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms in our center had the anterior wall of the common femoral artery exposed, through a 2-3 cm transverse groin incision, instead of a complete surgical cutdown. We access the artery with a purse-string suture, held tight with a tourniquet. After procedure completion, we tie the purse-string closing the arteriotomy. We retrospectively analyzed the cohort of all consecutive patients treated with endovascular aortic repair in this period and recorded primary and assisted technical success, operative time, in-hospital length of stay, access failure, and access-related complications, comparing the results with the current literature. RESULTS: All procedures were successful, with no perioperative mortality. Primary technical success was achieved in 116 patients; 2 required adjunctive procedures. No access failure or access-related complications (thrombosis, groin hematoma, lymphocele, wound dehiscence, or infection) occurred. Two accesses required conversion to complete femoral artery exposure and endarterectomy. Operatory time and length of in-hospital stay were comparable to the outcomes of the major studies reporting on percutaneous access, saving the costs of the closure devices. CONCLUSIONS: Minimally invasive surgical access is safe and feasible for endovascular aortic procedures. Compared to the costs of percutaneous access found in literature, it is cost-effective. It can be chosen whenever the percutaneous approach is not feasible or at a high risk of complications.

Re-organization of the Vascular Surgery Department During the Acute Phase of the COVID19 Outbreak: Lessons Learned and Future Perspectives.

INTRODUCTION: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection represents a serious threat to public health because it leads to a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. The region Lombardia (Italy) has suffered from severe problems during the acute phase of the outbreak in Italy (March-April 2020). The aim of our analysis is to report the experience of the Department of Vascular Surgery of Pavia, including the learned lessons and future perspectives, considering that the COVID-19 outbreak is in its acute phase in other continents. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Single-center, retrospective, observational study based on extracted data from the medical records of all consecutive COVID-19 patients observed in our Vascular Department between March 1st and April 30th, 2020. We reviewed the records for demographic information, comorbidities, laboratory tests, and anticoagulation treatment at the time of hospital admission. RESULTS: We observed an important reduction in elective and urgent interventions compared to the same period of the previous year; in parallel, we observed an increase in the diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in hospitalized patients, especially with severe infection. In our department, four infections were reported among health workers. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of the COVID19 pandemic on health-care delivery has been massive. A wave of vascular-related complications is expected. Regular SARS-CoV-2 screening, adequate protection, and quick reorganization of health-care resources are still needed.