Possibilities of duplex scanning in assessment of endoleaks after abdominal aorta endoprosthetic repair

Abstract

Endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair is an operation of choice in rendering hi-tech care for patients with aneurysms of the infrarenal aortic portion. The most frequently performed reoperations account for cases related to removing endoleaks. The article deals with assessing the presence of various types of endoleaks depending on the time elapsed after abdominal aortic aneurysm repair by means of duplex scanning and multislice computed tomography. Duplex scanning proved highly informative in detecting various types of endoleaks, being comparable with the findings of multislice computed tomography (p=0.917). The presence or absence of aneurysmal cavity coloration in the mode of Doppler colour mapping makes it possible to dynamically follow up the process of thrombogenesis. For timely diagnosis of complications after endoprosthetic repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms, the use of ultrasound duplex scanning is considered to be an informative and safe technique, possessing potential possibility of detecting endoleaks and, in our opinion, may be included into the protocol of follow-up of patients in the early postoperative period.