What Can Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair Learn from Abdominal Endovascular Aortic Repair?

Abstract

Endovascular aortic repair was quickly adopted by vascular surgeons when introduced in the late 1990s, initially for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms and also for thoracic aortic pathologies. However, aetiology of aortic pathologies varies substantially across the aorta and this is a challenge for endovascular repair. Moreover, the role and the efficacy of endovascular abdominal aortic repair (EVAR) has been examined very thoroughly and with a robust basis of evidence, whereas this is lacking for thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR). In this chapter we aim to work out existing fundamental differences between EVAR and TEVAR, which subsequently leads to the answer to the question “What can TEVAR learn from EVAR?”