Traumatic thoracic aortic transection in small-diameter aortas: percutaneous endograft repair.

The authors describe percutaneous repair of traumatic aortic transection in small-caliber aortas by using iliac extender stent-grafts in three patients (two female and one male patient; average age, 29.3 years). The average aortic diameters were 18.7 mm proximal and 16.4 mm distal to the tear. Iliac limb extenders (55 mm in length, 20-22 mm in diameter) were transferred from their 55-cm long delivery sheaths into 80-cm 16- or 18-F sheaths. The long sheaths enabled the percutaneous delivery of multiple stent-grafts to the thoracic aorta via a single femoral sheath. The transections were successfully treated in all patients without complication.