Predictors of mortality after endovascular repair of the thoracic descending aorta--the preliminary New Zealand experience.

As the mortality rates associated with open surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms and type B aortic dissection are within the range of 5-20% and 6-67%, endovascular technology has been developed as a minimally invasive alternative treatment. Such techniques avoid the need for thoracotomy, aortic cross-clamping, and left-sided heart bypass, and are associated with shorter operative times and hospital stays. The incidence of spinal cord ischaemia and paraplegia has been consistently low after endovascular repair of thoracic aneurysms. The latter includes patients in whom long aortic segments and the "danger zone" (T9-L1), that usually gives the origin to the anterior spinal artery, have been covered by the endograft.