Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in the Follow-Up of Endoleaks after Endovascular Aortic Repair (EVAR)

Abstract

AbstractEndovascular aortic repair (EVAR) has become established in the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms and shows potential benefits such as a low perioperative morbidity and a short hospitalization duration. The follow-up after EVAR primarily consists of lifelong postinterventional imaging of the aneurysm size in order to detect complications such as endoleaks or stent dislocation. Computed tomography angiography, an imaging modality that uses ionizing radiation and that relies on a contrast medium which is dependent on thyroid and renal function, is widely used for follow-up. Meanwhile, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) has been established as a viable, fast and cost-effective imaging alternative for the follow-up and the detection of endoleaks after EVAR with the additional benefit of being a real-time non-ionizing radiation examination and having comparable or even superior diagnostic performance. This review describes the use of CEUS for follow-up after EVAR and describes the most common pathologies.