Endovascular Repair of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm: One-year Results of the French AneuRx Trial

The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the results of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) repair using the Medtronic AneuRx endovascular stent graft. Forty-seven patients presenting with asymptomatic AAA were recruited in 17 French vascular centers. The mean age of these patients was 72.2 ± 7.8 years (range, 54 to 85.2 years). Indications were validated by an independent committee and all procedures were supervised by a trained medicotechnical assistant. Clinical data and follow-up imaging were also reviewed by an independent committee. The primary end point was successful implantation, defined as exclusion of the aneurysm without mortality, morbidity, or reintervention. The secondary end point was durable exclusion at 1 year, assessed by serial computed tomography (CT scan). Implantation of the AneuRx endovascular stent graft in this series of highly selected patients was associated with no mortality and low morbidity. One-year follow-up findings showed reduction in aneurysm diameter in 45% of patients. This finding indicates that endovascular treatment is effective. However, observation of stable aneurysm diameter in 50% and increased aneurysm diameter in 5% suggests that careful, indefinite follow-up surveillance is necessary.