Treatment of postcatheterisation false aneurysms: Ultrasound-guided compression vs ultrasound-guided thrombin injection

Objectives: to compare tire efficacy and cost-effectiveness of ultrasound-guided compression (UGC) with ultrasound-guided thrombin injection (UGTI) for treatment of postcatheterisation arterial false aneurysms (cFA). Design: prospective clinical study using historical controls. Materials tend Methods: we prospectively collected data oil 33 consecutive patients diagnosed with cFA larger than 1.5 cm in diameter. These were treated with UGTI. We perforated a retrospective review of data oil a former group of 33 consecutive Historical control patients flint were treated by UGC. Results: the groups were similar in respect of demographic and clinical Variables. Thirty patients were suitable for UGC and 33 patients were suitable for UGTI. The success rate for UGC was 26/30 (87%) compared to 33/33 (100%) for UGTI (p<0.05). Thrombosis was achieved during the first treatment session in 7/26 patients treated by UGC, compered to 261 33 in the UGTI group (p<0.0001). Four patients that failed UGC and two patients that were unsuitable for UGC required surgical repair. UGTI as compared to UGC was shorter in duration (25 vs 75 min) and required no sedation. No thromboembolic or systemic complications occurred in either group. Cost analysis revealed savings of $US 517 for each patient treated by UGTI as compared with UGC. Conclusions: in our study, UGTI is superior to UGC, mid we suggest that UGTI should become the procedure of choice for the treatment of cFA.