Endovascular repair of a common iliac artery aneurysm using the Cook Zenith abdominal aortic aneurysm Endovascular Graft Converter

Isolated common iliac artery aneurysm is a rare condition that is treated aggressively because of its high risk of rupture. Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair has recently been extended to the clinical management of the iliac artery aneurysm. Stent grafts have been used successfully to exclude iliac artery aneurysms. Successful graft deployment and aneurysm exclusion require adequate seal and fixation at the proximal and distal attachment sites. This article presents a high-risk surgical patient whose 6.8-cm-diameter iliac artery aneurysm was repaired with a Zenith AAA Endovascular Graft Converter (Cook, Bloomington, Indiana). This device is normally used to convert an aortobiiliac endograft to an aortouniiliac endograft during AAA repair. The tapered 80-mm-long graft has diameters of 24 mm proximally and 12 mm distally. Completion arteriogram demonstrated exclusion of the iliac artery aneurysm with no evidence of endoleak. No postoperative complications occurred. No endoleak was seen on the follow-up abdominal computed tomography scan.     

Carotid plaque morphologic characteristics

Carotid artery atherosclerosis is predominantly believed to mirror atherosclerosis elsewhere in the body. Endothelial injury results in expression of cell surface adhesion molecules with expression of sequence of genes involved in the inflammatory pathway and expression of proinflammatory cytokines. The combination of the inflammatory mediators and contribution by monocytes infiltrating the intima and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation result in the development of atheromatous plaque with a lipid-rich necrotic core. Complications of these atheromatous plaques can lead to plaque instability, rupture, and subsequent hemorrhage or ulceration. The significant risk factors, characteristics associated with symptoms, and available diagnostic imaging modalities are also discussed with review of the relevant literature.     

Effect of ethnicity on access and device complications during endovascular aneurysm repair

INTRODUCTION: There are no published reports on the association between ethnicity and outcome after aortoiliac stent grafting to treat aneurismal disease. Because Hawaii is a state with an ethnically diverse population, we conducted a retrospective study to examine this potential association. We hypothesized that individuals of Asian ancestry may have higher complication rates after endovascular repair compared with non-Asians. METHODS: All endovascular devices placed to treat aneurysm disease from 1996 to 2003 were evaluated in two institutions. The association between ethnicity and access-related and device-related complications, both periprocedural and delayed, was examined with logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Ninety-two aortoiliac endografts were placed during the study period, including 87 in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms with or without iliac aneurysm disease, and five patients with isolated iliac artery aneurysms. Forty-four percent of patients were categorized as Asian, 39% as white, 16% as Pacific Islander, and 1% as African American. Access-related and device-related complications (ADRCs) occurred in 11 of 92 (12%) of these patients. The following parameters were significantly associated with ADRCs: Asian ethnicity (P =.015), age greater than 80 years (P =.02), and external iliac diameter smaller than 7.5 mm (P =.01). Asian patients were more likely to have experienced ADRCs than were non-Asian patients (odds ratio, 7.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.5-35.8; P =.015). Asians also had smaller external iliac artery diameters (P =.0003) and more tortuous iliac arteries (P =.03) compared with non-Asians. After adjusting for iliac artery diameter and tortuosity, the association between Asian ethnicity and ARDCs became nonsignificant (P =.074), which suggests that the association between race and complications may be at least in part due to small and tortuous iliac arteries. There was no association between age, gender, or ethnicity and postoperative detection of endoleak. CONCLUSION: Our data indicate that individuals of Asian ancestry are far more likely to experience adverse access-related and device-related complications after aortoiliac stent grafting than are non-Asians. We found that this association is at least partly attributable to the smaller and more tortuous iliac arteries in persons of Asian ancestry.