Eight-year Study Finds Endografts an Effective and Simple Treatment for Popliteal Aneurysm Disease
According to the American Vascular Association, peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects more than 20% of all Americans over 70. Popliteal aneurysm, a form of PAD, is a dangerous ballooning of the main artery supplying blood to the leg. The effects of popliteal aneurysm disease can be devastating, causing clots that can cripple the affected legs or even lead to their amputation.
NEW YORK (PRWEB) November 16, 2006
According to the American Vascular Association, peripheral artery disease (PAD) affects more than 20% of all Americans over 70. Popliteal aneurysm, a form of PAD, is a dangerous ballooning of the main artery supplying blood to the leg. The effects of popliteal aneurysm disease can be devastating, causing clots that can cripple the affected legs or even lead to their amputation.
Open surgery has long been the treatment of choice for popliteal aneurysms, but minimally invasive endovascular treatments such as endografts are swiftly gaining in popularity. Endografts are a type of stent-graft, a catheter that expands the leg's main artery, permitting blood to flow unimpeded. Because endograft technology is so new, there have been relatively few studies analyzing its long-term safety and effectiveness. However, today at the 33rd annual VEITHsymposium™, Dr. Eric L. G. Verhoeven, Associate Professor and Consultant Vascular Surgeon at the University Medical Center Groningen (The Netherlands), discussed his eight-year study of endovascular treatment for popliteal aneurysm disease, which found it to be an effective, simple procedure from which patients generally make a quick and long-lasting recovery.
Dr. Verhoeven's group studied 72 cases in which endografts were placed in patients with popliteal aneurysm disease who were found to have suitable anatomy for the procedure. All 72 procedures were technically successful. During follow-up, 16 (22%) stent-grafts occluded (became blocked); 10 needed treatment for this occlusion, but five re-occluded Another eight re-interventions other than for occlusion were required, but half of these can directly be accounted for to the initial learning curve. Only one patient required open surgery, and no patients had to endure amputation. The group also found that treating postoperative patients with clopidogrel added to aspirin during the first eight weeks of recovery resulted in better patency (lack of blockage). Five years into the study, the primary patency was 70%, with a secondary patency of 79%, which is considered an acceptable rate. The group expects these rates to improve with the use of better anticoagulation therapy, such as a six-month course of clopidogrel, as well as from refinements to the technical execution of the procedure.
Based on these study findings and their extensive experience, the group still considers open surgery a first option for good-risk patients; however, for all other patients, especially those who lack good veins for bypass surgery, endografts have proven to be a safe and effective treatment.
Dr. Verhoeven said, "With this study in hand, endovascular repair can be regarded a valid option for treatment of popliteal aneurysm." Depending on the patients' and aneurysm characteristics, the surgeon and patient have to make a balanced choice between endovascular or open treatment.
About VEITHsymposium™: Now entering its fourth decade, VEITHsymposium™ provides vascular surgeons, interventional radiologists, interventional cardiologists and other vascular specialists with a unique and exciting format to learn the most current information about what is new and important in the treatment of vascular disease. The 5-day event features 300 rapid-fire presentations from the world's most renowned vascular specialists with emphasis on the latest advances, changing concepts in diagnosis and management, pressing controversies and new techniques.
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