To report the causes of second rupture in patients treated with a stent graft for ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA).
A 69-year-old man was admitted for abdominal pain and hypovolemic shock 22 months after endovascular exclusion of an rAAA with an aortomonoiliac stent graft and a crossover bypass despite normal duplex ultrasound and sac shrinkage at 1 year. During emergent laparotomy, a type IA endoleak was discovered and the aortomonoiliac stent graft was explanted. A Dacron bypass was interposed between the infrarenal aorta and the iliac extension stent graft.
Considering the literature, this report has 3 implications for the endovascular treatment of rAAA. First, 30% oversizing is preferable to 15% when treating an rAAA assessed by computed tomography angiography (CTA) performed during permissive hypotension. Second, the surveillance program should rely on CTA and not on a duplex examination to detect any endoleaks or migration. Finally, partial stent graft explantation is a valid option for decreasing aortic clamping time.