EVAR outdoes surgery for care of aortic blunt trauma

October 6, 2008 Diagnostic Imaging. EVAR outdoes surgery for care of aortic blunt trauma -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A large metastudy indicates that endovascular repair is better and safer than surgery for the treatment of blunt thoracic aortic trauma. Dr. Eric K. Hoffer and colleagues at Dartmouth Medical School's vascular and interventional radiology unit reviewed 19 published studies comparing 262 endograft repairs versus 376 open surgeries. They found that the 30% death rate associated with EVAR for thoracic aorta injury was half the rate associated with open surgery and intensive care methods. Stenting further reduced mortality by almost 10% in some cases, likely as a result of decreased systemic stress afforded by endovascular repair. EVAR also brought down the risk of paraplegia, a frequent surgical complication. Results were published in the August issue of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

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