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Aortic aneurysm repair - endovascular - Overview

Alternative Names

EVAR; Endovascular aneurysm repair; AAA repair - endovascular; Repair - aortic aneurysm - endovascular

Definition of Aortic aneurysm repair - endovascular:

Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair is surgery to fix a widened part (or aneurysm) in your aorta, the large artery that carries blood to your belly, pelvis, and legs.

An aortic aneurysm is when a part of this artery becomes too large, or balloons outward, due to weakness in the wall of the artery.

Description:

You will lie down on a padded table in an operating room, in the radiology department of the hospital, or in a catheterization lab. You may receive general anesthesia (asleep and pain-free) or epidural or spinal anesthesia.

Your doctor will make a small incision (cut) near the groin, to find the femoral artery. Then your doctor will insert a stent (a metal coil) and a manmade (synthetic) graft through the cut into the artery.
The doctor uses x-rays to guide the stent graft up into your aorta, to where the aneurysm is located. The doctor will open the stent using a spring-like mechanism and attach it to the walls of the aorta. Your aneurysm will eventually shrink around it.
The doctor will then use x-rays again to make sure the stent is in the right place and your aneurysm is not bleeding inside your body.

Reviewed last on: 3/5/2009
Robert A. Cowles, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, NY. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Gloviczki P, Ricotta JJ II. Aneurysmal vascular disease. In: Townsend CM, Beauchamp RD, Evers BM, Mattox KL, eds. Sabiston Textbook of Surgery. 18th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2008:chap 65.

Greenhalgh RM, Powell JT. Endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm. N Engl J Med. 2008 Jan 31;358(5):494-501.

Lederle FA, Kane RL, MacDonald R, Wilt TJ. Systematic review: repair of unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. Ann Intern Med. 2007 May 15;146(10):735-41.

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