“Despite significant technological improvements since its inception, endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is still associated with some of the same problems we experienced nearly 30 years ago,” Michel Reijnen (Arnhem, The Netherlands) remarked at the VEITHsymposium 2023 (14–18 November, New York, USA). One of these issues—and a significant unmet need in the aortic field—is the failure of a AAA to regress post-endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR).
Reijnen was speaking with Jan Heyligers (Tilburg, The Netherlands) on the benefits of active sac management—specifically technology from Shape Memory Medical—and highlighted new evidence from the AAA-SHAPE study, which they commented might inject some much-needed data into the conversation.
There is evidence to suggest that patients with a shrinking aneurysm do better, Reijnen noted, stressing that the time to make progress in this field is now. “We are at a crossroads,” he said. “We need to add something to our regular EVAR and active sac management—where we fill up the complete sac—which may well be a step forward.”
At VEITH 2023, Reijnen presented some new evidence on active sac management from the AAA-SHAPE early feasibility study, which enrolled 35 patients. He reported no device- or procedure-related major adverse events and “impressive” sac regression results. The technique used in AAA-SHAPE was recently published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery: Cases, Innovations and Techniques, and Reijnen noted that the manuscript on the one-year results has been accepted for publication.
This video is sponsored by Shape Memory Medical.
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