Authors' objectives:

The aim of this report is to know the scientific evidence available on effectiveness and safety of the treatment of thoracic aortic diseases by endovascular stent-grafts (ESG).

Authors' recommendations: According to the results of this review, there is limited scientific evidence on the effectiveness and safety of endoluminal treatment of the thoracic aortic lesions. The quality of the evidence of the studies is low and no randomized clinical trials that compare the endoluminal intervention with conventional surgical treatment have been found. However, in spite of the limitations of the studies found, the procedure seems to be a promising alternative to conventional open surgery, above all in term of lower morbidity and especially for patients with surgical risk. Performing studies with selection explicit criteria in homogenous patients, as well as performing well-designed studies that compare endoluminal treatment with open surgery treatment in adequately selected patients is considered to be essential. Given the lack of information on the middle-long term procedure results, performing follow-up studies that make it possible to assess effectiveness and safety of the procedure, especially the endurance of the prosthesis that is presently considered to be one of the main limitations of the technique, is of special interest.

Authors' methods: Systematic review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.isciii.es/aets/

Year Published: 2005

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Spain

Organisation Name: Agencia de Evaluacion de Tecnologias Sanitarias

Contact Address: Instituto de Salud "Carlos III", Calle Sinesio Delgado 6, Pabellon 4, 28029 Madrid, Spain. Tel: +34 9 1 822 2005; Fax: +34 9 1 387 7841;

Contact Name: Luis M. Sánchez Gómez

Contact Email: luism.sanchez@isciii.es

Copyright: Agencia de Evaluacion de Tecnologias Sanitarias (AETS)