Endovascular Repair of Thoracic and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms: Pre- and Postprocedural Imaging

Endovascular repair of thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms is a safe alternative to conventional open surgical repair. Clinical success, however, is highly dependent on patient selection. Diagnostic vascular imaging has an essential role for this selection process. Following endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR), patients require long-term surveillance and again vascular imaging serves an integral function. This article reviews EVAR selection criteria and post-EVAR assessment and then discusses the imaging modalities used to evaluate these patients, namely multi-detector-row computed tomographic angiography, magnetic resonance imaging/angiography, duplex ultrasonography, and catheter angiography.

Keywords:  thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms , endovascular repair , CT angiography , MR angiography , wall motion , computed rotational angiography