Totally Percutaneous Approach to Endovascular Treatment of Aortic Aneurysms (PEVAR-PRO)

Endovascular treatment using a percutaneous technique (Percutaneous Endovascular Aneurism Repair - P-EVAR) has been used with increasing frequency to treat aortic aneurysms by reducing operative times, postoperative pain and length of stay, compared to treatment by surgical femoral access. During EVAR procedures, two accesses to the femoral arteries are required to introduce the necessary tools for the stentgraft implantation. Such accesses can be classically obtained by surgical incision, isolation of the common femoral arteries and direct introduction of the devices.

Alternatively, the most modern approach involves direct puncture of the artery (without the need for incision), through the skin and closure of the arterial breach through prolonged manual compression of the vascular closure or systems (Vascular Closure Devices - VCD) specifically designed. Among the various closure devices one of the most used and studied is the Perclose Proglide (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara CA, USA) that allows to affix a polypropylene stitch to close the arterial breach. When closing high-caliber accesses (> 8 French) it is necessary to use two devices that must be positioned before inserting the introducer ("Pre-Close Technique").

Few studies have so far evaluated the application of this method to the treatment of complex cases such as thoracic or thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms that requiring the use of high caliber introducers.

The objective of the study is the evaluation of the technical success and clinical outcomes of the PEVAR technique with a double vascular suture device Perclose ProGlide (Abbott Illinois, U.S.A.).Endovascular treatment using a percutaneous technique (Percutaneous Endovascular Aneurism Repair - P-EVAR) has been used with increasing frequency to treat aortic aneurysms by reducing operative times, postoperative pain and length of stay, compared to treatment by surgical femoral access. During EVAR procedures, two accesses to the femoral arteries are required to introduce the necessary tools for the stentgraft implantation. Such accesses can be classically obtained by surgical incision, isolation of the common femoral arteries and direct introduction of the devices.

Alternatively, the most modern approach involves direct puncture of the artery (without the need for incision), through the skin and closure of the arterial breach through prolonged manual compression of the vascular closure or systems (Vascular Closure Devices - VCD) specifically designed. Among the various closure devices one of the most used and studied is the Perclose Proglide (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara CA, USA) that allows to affix a polypropylene stitch to close the arterial breach. When closing high-caliber accesses (> 8 French) it is necessary to use two devices that must be positioned before inserting the introducer ("Pre-Close Technique").