Dr Roy Greenberg, Cleveland Clinic, presented data from a single-centre, consecutive study comparing elective open repair vs. endovascular repair for thoracoabdominal aneurysms (TAAA), over five years. His conclusion was that mortality risk for endovascular repair is at least equivalent to open surgery despite the older and sicker patient population. The paraplegia outcome for surgical repair was 28 (8%; n=372) vs. 15 (4%; n=352) for the endovascular repair group. He added that the risk of spinal cord injury is roughly equivalent between both procedures, and that clinical utility is better with endovascular repair in contrast to open surgery.
