A Unique Bailout Method for the Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurism with a Narrow Iliac Bifurcation.

BACKGROUND: Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) became the procedure of first choice for the repair of the abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) in the last decades. However, narrow distal aorta remains to be the main limiting factor for the use of EVAR. A limited number of bail-out procedures have been described in the literature to overcome this problem.

METHODS: A 69-year-old male was transferred to our institution for the repair of a ruptured AAA. His initial presentation mimicked an acute coronary syndrome, provoking a cardiac catheterization that documented a ruptured AAA.

RESULTS: The patient was brought to the operating room for EVAR, but his distal aorta was severely narrowed, preventing the use of a bifurcated graft. We had to convert the bifurcated graft to a unigraft and place two additional grafts extending into the iliac arteries to fix the type I endoleak that we encountered at the distal end of the unigraft. He recovered well postoperatively, and his repair was found to be stable at 6-month follow-up.

CONCLUSION: The surgical technique that we are presenting here is a unique bail-out procedure that can be used as an alternative solution to the narrow distal aortas.