Outcome of Endovascular Approach for Management of Thoracic Aortic Thrombus

Abstract

Thoracic aortic thrombus is a rare condition that can be a significant source of distal embolic events. This study details experience on the use of an endovascular technique for the management of thoracic aortic thrombus with a stent graft in 5 cases. Four of the cases were diagnosed with aortic arch thrombus, and 1 was diagnosed with distal descending aortic thrombus. All patients were females with age ranging from 44 to 71years. Arterial embolism was the main clinical finding in most cases, which involved the upper extremities (n=1) and cerebral embolism (n=3), while 1 patient was asymptomatic. All 5 surgeries were considered technically successful with 0 perioperative all-cause mortality. Patients were discharged in a stable condition and were prescribed anticoagulant and antiplatelet medications. During follow-up visits, there were no instances of stent-graft failure or collapse, leak, or distal migration. Furthermore, there was complete resolution of the intraluminal thrombus, and all patients were asymptomatic.