Purpose: To describe a new technique to assist aortoiliac stent-graft implantation in the presence of severe and extensive calcification.
Technique: The use of an aortic stent-graft telescoped into the aorta and deployed partly within and partly outside the aorta is illustrated in 2 cases. In the first, the bifurcated stent-graft was deployed with the proximal end and body intraluminally within the aorta; the distal ends (legs) were extended in an extravascular fashion with surgical grafts to reach the femoral bifurcation. In the second case, a tapered tubular stent-graft was deployed through the aortic wall to land partially inside the aortic lumen and partly inside a bifurcated standard surgical graft; the distal ends of the surgical graft were anastomosed to the iliac arteries by a standard anastomosis on the left and by an intraluminal telescoped stent-graft anastomosis on the right. Follow-up was uneventful in both patients. The sutureless telescoping anastomosis was stable at 5 years and 6 months, respectively, on computed tomographic angiography.
Conclusion: These favorable outcomes underscore that this technique should be considered in patients with aortoiliac occlusive disease in whom aortic cross-clamping and/or a standard aortic anastomosis is expected to be difficult or impossible.