Endovascular Bailout Repair After Intraprocedural Thrombosis of a Bifurcated Unimodular Stent-graft During Aorto-iliac Revascularization in a Patient with Sars CoV-2 Infection.

To describe a case of endovascular bailout strategy during stent-graft thrombotic complication in an endovascular procedure for complex TASC II D aortoiliac lesion. A 77-year-old patient was admitted at our institution with bilateral lower limb rest pain due to aortoiliac obstructive disease in a previous aortobifemoral bypass grafting with an asymptomatic Sars-CoV-2 infection. We planned an anatomic reconstruction of the aortoiliac segment with an unimodular bifurcated stent-graft. During the procedure, we observed a preocclusive thrombosis of the aortic portion requiring endovascular thrombectomy with vacuum assisted system followed by a successfully kissing-stent endolining. The post-operative period was uneventful and patient was discharged on the 14th post-operative day. Endovascular thrombectomy may be a helpful strategy during thrombotic complication of complex reconstructions of obstructive aortoiliac disease avoiding surgical conversion to laparotomy.

Two-year single centre results with covered endovascular reconstruction of aortic bifurcation (CERAB) in the treatment of extensive aorto-iliac occlusive disease.

OBJECTIVE: To report the results of a single-centre in the treatment of extensive aorto-iliac occlusive disease (AIOD) by the covered endovascular reconstruction of aortic bifurcation (CERAB) technique. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted on data obtained from the review of medical charts of all consecutive patients treated with CERAB technique for AIOD between January 2016 and December 2019 in San Giovanni-Addolorata Hospital (Rome, Italy). Clinical examination, duplex ultrasound with ankle-brachial index measurement and contrast-enhanced computed tomography angiography were performed preoperatively. A clinical and ultrasound follow-up was carried out at one month and then half yearly after the intervention to evaluate patients' clinical status, limb salvage, target lesion revascularization rate, primary and secondary patency rate. RESULTS: During the study period, 24 patients (14 men, 58.3%; 10 women, 41.7%; median age 59 years, range 37-79 years) underwent CERAB for AIOD (TASC II C 29.2%, TASC II D 70.8%). Indications for treatment were: intermittent claudication in 18 patients (75%) and critical limb ischemia in 6 (25%). Technical success was achieved in all cases. Perioperative minor complications occurred in three cases (12.5%). One patient reported an intraoperative iliac rupture requiring adjunctive covered stenting. Median hospital length of stay was two days (range 1-9). No patient died perioperatively nor at the last follow-up. At a median follow-up of 18 months (range 6-48 months), mean ankle-brachial index increased significantly (from 0.62 ± 0.15 before the procedure to 0.84 ± 0.18) (P < 0.001) and target lesion revascularization rate was 12.5%. At two years, the limb salvage rate was 100%, and primary and secondary patency rates were 87.5% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSION: CERAB technique demonstrated to be effective at the mid-term follow-up with low rate of complications and short length of stay. Long-term results and more robust data are needed to affirm this technique as the first-line treatment for extensive AIOD. However, it could become the preferred option especially in fragile patients and during contemporary COVID-19 pandemic due to the current limitations in vascular and critical care bed capacity.

Acute aortoiliac occlusion in a patient with novel coronavirus disease-2019.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome novel coronavirus-2 pandemic is affecting almost every country in the world. Even if the major symptoms of coronavirus disease-2019 are respiratory, different symptoms at presentation are now recognized. Venous thromboembolism has been reported in infected patients and few but increasing cases of arterial thrombosis have been described. We report a case of acute aortoiliac and lower limb artery occlusions in a patient presenting with severe coronavirus disease-2019 infection. The mechanism of the occlusion seemed to be distal embolization from a floating thrombus in the aortic arch caused by a major inflammatory state and virus infection. The patient underwent aortoiliac and lower limb artery mechanical thrombectomy, but required unilateral major amputation.