Evaluation of abdominal aortic aneurysm neck diameter, neck angulation and anurysm diameter with CT-angiography after evar

Purpose: To analyze the short-term changes in the morphology of abdominal aortic aneurysms after endovascular stent-grefting by measuring the variations of aneurysmal diameter, aneurysm neck diameter and angulation as well as two different stent-graft materials for the follow-up of endovascular aortic repair (EVAR).Methods: Between December 2004 and March 2008, 70 patients were treated with EVAR, 33 patients were completed CT-angiography (CT-A) examinations suitable for post-processing at the 6th month. Measurements of the aneurysm neck diameter and aneurysm diameter were made from the axial slices of CT-A. Measurements of neck angulation were made from MPR (multi planar reformat) images. Also outcomes were compared between two groups of stent-graft materials. 17 patients were treated with stent-1 (Talent, Medtronic, USA), 16 patients were treated with stent-2 (Excluder, Gore, USA).Results: At the first 6 months, there were significant decrease of aneurysm diameter (p<0.001), significant decrease of anerysm neck angulation (p<0.001) and significant increase of the aneurysm neck daimeter (p<0.001). Two different tent-graft materials showed smilar changes in aneurysm diameter and neck angulations (p=0.901 and p=0.19). Stent-1 showed statisficallly significant increase in neck diameter comparing to stent-2 (p=0.015).Conclusion: After endovascular repairment of abdominal aortic aneurysm, aneurysmal morphology shows significant changes in aneurysm sac diameter, aneurysm neck diameter and neck angulation. The comparison of variations of preoperative and postoperative aneurysmal morphology may enable to predict the potential complications after EVAR and may contribute to the evaluation of EVAR. Additionally, the variations of the angulation of aneurysm neck would enhance the follow-up of EVAR.