Percutaneous Closure of Aortic Pseudoaneurysm by Amplatzer Occluder Device-Case Series of Six Patients

Thoracic pseudoaneurysms are rare variety of aortic disorders. Although mostly asymptomatic, they represent potentially fatal conditions (Sullivan at al., Chest 1988;93:138-143; Razzouk at al., Ann Surg 1993;59:818-823) that are traditionally treated surgically. False aneurysms of aorta are usually a late complication of previous surgical procedure (Sullivan at al., 1988)-especially reconstructive surgery, trauma (Razzouk at al., 1993), and rarely infection (Sanchez-Recalde et al., J Am Coll Cardiol 2003;41:152-154). Surgical management is often complicated by poor outcomes with high morbidity and mortality (Mulder at al., Arch Surg 1998;133:45-49). Endovascular treatment is emerging as promising options for aortic diseases with fewer complications. We report a series of six cases at a single center where Amplatzer devise was used to treat thoracic aortic pseudo aneurysm. To our knowledge only one series of three cases (Kanani at al., Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2007;69:146-153) and few case reports (Bashi at al., Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2005;65:547-551) of successful closure have been published previously. Our case series is the largest, so far, including mortality and specifically the preprocedural and postprocedural CT angiographic assessment of the pseudoaneurysms. (C) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.