Urgent or Emergent Endovascular Aortic Repair of Infective Aortitis

Abstract

Background: Aortitis is a rare inflammation of the aorta. It can be classified as infective, non-infective, or idiopathic. Infective aortitis can debut as an acute aortic syndrome that needs urgent or emergent treatment. Historically, these kinds of patients have been preferably treated by open surgery, with subsequent lack of information about the endovascular repair. The aim of the present study is to report the results of our experience with the urgent or emergent endovascular repair of infective aortitis with acute presentation. Methods: All consecutive urgent or emergent endovascular repairs, performed between January 2019 and January 2024 for the treatment of infective aortitis, were included. The inclusion criteria were clinical, laboratory, and radiological findings recognized as aortitis risk factors. Patients with graft or endograft infection, aortic fistulae, and mycotic aneurysm were excluded. Primary endpoints were technical success and 30-day and follow-up survival. Early and late major adverse events, any changes in lesion morphology over time, and need for re-intervention were also assessed. Results: A total of 15 patients (14 males and 1 female) with a mean age of 74.2 ± 8.3 were included. All the subjects were treated by endovascular means in an urgent or emergent setting because of a rapidly growing aneurysm, symptomatic lesion, or contained or free aortic rupture. The diagnosis of infective aortitis was confirmed postoperatively by positive blood cultures in all the patients. A rapidly growing or symptomatic lesion was noted in all 15 subjects. Among these there were six (40%) contained and two (13%) free aneurysm ruptures. The endovascular techniques performed were as follows: four thoracic-EVAR (TEVAR), three off-the-shelf branched-EVAR (BEVAR), one Chimney-EVAR (Ch-EVAR), six EVAR with bifurcated graft, and one EVAR with straight tube graft. Technical success was achieved in 100% of the patients. Two patients (13%) died within 30 days after the index procedure. No case of early aortic-related mortality was registered. During a mean follow-up of 31.6 ± 23.1 months (range 1–71), no further death or major adverse event was registered among the remaining 13 alive patients. Re-interventions were performed in three cases (20%). Aneurysm’s shrinkage > 5 mm or stability was noted in 10 of the 13 patients who survived the early period after repair. Conclusions: Despite the relative reluctance to use an endograft in an infected area, in our experience the endovascular approach resulted to be feasible, safe, and effective in the treatment of infective aortitis with acute presentation, with acceptable peri-operative and mid-term follow-up outcomes. Further studies are needed to confirm our results.