Subsequently, patients undergo an angiogram of the area of interest. If this initial evaluation reveals that the patient is still a candidate for stent graft placement, the patient will be enrolled in the study. As long as this device remains investigational the patients will also require annual CT examinations. Patients who are found to meet the selection criteria and are willing to consent to the protocol will be scheduled for a combined interventional radiology and thoracic surgery procedure. This procedure is performed in an operating room compatible angiography suite in the Division of Angiography and Interventional Radiology.
Access is gained into both common femoral arteries using vascular cut down techniques.
The stent graft devices introduced and advanced under fluoroscopic guidance to the level of the aneurysm. An additional catheter is placed through the contra lateral groin or a brachial access to provide repeat contrast injections. Once the device has been carefully positioned at the site of aneurysm it is unsheathed and springs open to a predetermined size. A stent graft is a metal mesh with Dacron material sutured to it. The stent grafts used in this study have a modular design.