Percutaneous closure of aortic pseudoaneurysm by Amplatzer occluder device-case series of six patients.

Thoracic pseudoaneurysms are rare variety of aortic disorders. Although mostly asymptomatic, they represent potentially fatal conditions (Sullivan et al., Chest 1988;93:138-143; Razzouk et al., Ann Surg 1993;59:818-823) that are traditionally treated surgically. False aneurysms of aorta are usually a late complication of previous surgical procedure (Sullivan et al., 1988)-especially reconstructive surgery, trauma (Razzouk et al., 1993), and rarely infection (Sanchez-Recalde et al., J Am Coll Cardiol 2003;41:152-154). Surgical management is often complicated by poor outcomes with high morbidity and mortality (Mulder et al., Arch Surg 1998;133:45-49). Endovascular treatment is emerging as promising options for aortic diseases with fewer complications. We report a series of six cases at a single center where Amplatzer device was used to treat thoracic aortic pseudo aneurysm. To our knowledge only one series of three cases (Kanani et al., Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2007;69:146-153) and few case reports (Bashi et al., Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2005;65:547-551) of successful closure have been published previously. Our case series is the largest, so far, including mortality and specifically the preprocedural and postprocedural CT angiographic assessment of the pseudoaneurysms. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.