INTRAAORTIC COVERED STENTS

Because of the risk and complications related to surgery of the aorta, the development of new, less invasive endovascular techniques has res ulted in a certain enthusiasm for these new treatments on the part of physicians and industry. The insertion of aortic stents allows the tre atment of almost one half of aneurysm of the infrarenal abdominal aort a and descending aorta. The results appear to demonstrate the medium-t erm reliability and efficacy of these new techniques with a lower morb idity-mortality rate than that of conventional surgery. However, preop erative and intraoperative imaging plays an essential role in the succ ess of these new methods. Finally, although the medium-term results ar e encouraging, the long-term outcome of these new materials is unknown , which justifies close surveillance of these patients and prospective comparative studies.