Comparative analysis of different endovascular modalities to treat splenic artery aneurysms

BACKGROUND: Endovascular treatment of splenic artery aneurysms (SAAs) is widely applied in the current clinical practice. The aim of this paper was to describe our single center experience on endovascular treatment of SAAs, comparing the outcomes obtained with two different METHODS: Between January 2010 and December 2021, 35 patients with certain diagnosis of non-ruptured SAA were admitted to our center. Twenty-eight patients treated with packing or sandwich techniques were included in the study analysis. Primary outcome measures analyzed were 30-day mortality and mean hospital stay. Secondary outcome measures analyzed were freedom from splenectomy, and the rate of postembolization syndrome. Chi-square test was used to compare the two endovascular techniques. Statistical significance was defined as P value <0.05. RESULTS: The mean age was 56.5 +/- 12.8 years. Most of patients were females (22, 78.6%). Eighteen patients underwent sandwich technique (Group A), and the remaining 10 packing technique (Group B). Technical success was 100%. Intraoperative and 30-day mortality were 0 in both groups. Mean hospital stay was 4.2 +/- 4.0 days in Group A, and 2.3 +/- 3.9 days in Group B (P=0.93). Postembolization syndrome occurred in 9 cases (50%) in Group A, and in 4 cases (40%) in Group B (P=0.521). Only one patient in Group A (5.5%) required splenectomy (P=0.392). CONCLUSIONS: Packing and sandwich techniques seem to be similarly safe and effective in treating SAAs and have no statistically significant differences in terms of early mortality and morbidity. (Cite this article as: Bertagna G, Troisi N, Torri L, Canovaro F, Tomei F, Adami D, et al. Comparative analysis of different endovascular modalities to treat splenic artery aneurysms. Ital J Vasc Endovasc Surg 2023;30:7-10. DOI: 10.23736/S1824-4777.22.01569-8)