Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair with Homemade Stent Grafts: Early and Mid-Term Outcomes

Purpose. We reviewed our experience with homemade stent grafts in the repair of a variety of thoracic aortic lesions. The objective of this study was to assess the early and mid-term outcomes of this therapy. Methods. From 1999 to 2007, homemade stent grafts were inserted in 88 patients with an atherosclerotic aneurysm, dissection, pseudoaneurysm, trauma, or rupture in the thoracic aorta. The endoprostheses were stainless steel Z-stents covered by a polyester graft, and were custom-designed for each patient. Results. Placement of stent grafts was technically successful in 81 of the 88 patients (92%). Within 30 days after treatment, 3 patients died, 3 had a cerebral infarction, and 3 had onset of paraplegia or paraparesis. Primary endoleaks were observed in 8 patients (9%). During the mean follow-up period of 32 26 months, 7 patients had persistent endoleaks and 7 had stent-graft migration. The aneurysm-related mortality rate was 7%. The rate of freedom from open-surgery conversion at 32 months was 89.0%. Conclusions. Our early experience with elective and emergency thoracic endovascular aortic repair using homemade stent grafts provided therapeutic benefits to high-risk patients. Endoleaks and stent-graft migrations were the factors most commonly responsible for secondary intervention in the mid-term period. Careful follow-up of patients treated with this approach is needed to avoid major complications in the long term.