Categories
common iliac artery aneurysm CTA Endoleak EVAR iliac artery aneurysm techniques

The Geometry of Parallel Grafts in the Iliac Arteries

The development of metachronous common iliac artery aneurysm, or progression of them, after prior treatment with EVAR (endovascular aneurysm repair), particularly with “bell bottoming” is typically treated with coil embolization of the internal iliac artery and extension of the stent graft into the external iliac artery. While CH-EVAR has been in the news with the recent results from the PERICLES registry, I have never been entirely convinced of its durability. That is different in the case of building parallel grafts in an iliac limb of an EVAR graft (reference).

Here, the geometries, thrombosis, and forces combine to make gutter flow and endoleak unlikely. Choosing the right size of stent grafts to channel to the external and internal iliacs seems to be a challenge, but is easily solved by this scheme -which I can’t claim as my own, but was thought up by a surgeon in upstate New York who choses to remain anonymous.*

The diameter of the stent graft to be sealed to is measured and an area calculated. The sum of the areas of the two grafts to be placed need to equal or slightly exceed the area of this inflow stent graft. If you have decided the size of the external iliac graft, for example, then the diameter of other graft is merely a few geometric formulas away.

Here is a table that can be helpful in avoiding those formulas.
diameter area table.jpegThe inflow graft area is taken from its measured diameter. Then usually one or the other artery has an obligate size -a size the graft has to be while the other has more “wiggle room.” The other thing that comes from experience is that the AFX graft’s iliac limb extension don’t get the B-infolding that can affect an oversized stent graft placed in a small artery and it accomodates a neighbor well.measurement_3

For example, take this patient who after EVAR of aortic aneurysm with AFX developed metachronous dilatation of the common iliac artery to 3.9cm with abdominal pain. The average diameter is 18.5mm. From the table, that rounds to 19mm corresponding to 283.53 square mm. If the internal iliac artery requires a 13mm graft, that is 132.73 square mm, the difference being 150.80 square mm. That corresponds to a 14mm diameter graft, but a slightly larger graft is preferred for oversizing. The external iliac artery is 8mm, and putting a 13mm Viabahn (largest available) in that would result in the B-infolding in the 8mm external iliac. Here, I bailed myself out by simply placing a 20mm AFX iliac limb extension, which by virtue of its design is resistent to infolding and tolerant of parallel grafts laid alongside in constricted channels. I found that the AFX iliac limb, a 20-13mm x 88mm length extension well suited for this.

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The AFX graft limb seems to adapt to the presence of the parallel “sandwich” graft which is deployed second and ballooned last. In followup, there was shrinkage of the common iliac artery aneurysm sac and no endoleak.

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Compared to my other parallel graft case treating a metachronous saccular common iliac aneurysm years after an EVAR with a Gore endograft (link), which by table calculation, resulted in 8% oversize in calculated areas, this particular technique with a large AFX graft and an appropriately sized Viabahn seemed to work well the setting of a previously placed AFX graft. It allows one to avoid hypogastric occlusion.

The final option of a femoral or external iliac to internal iliac bypass after extension across the bifurcation to the external iliac artery is still a reasonable choice, although it seems to be receding into history.

Reference

Smith, Mitchell T. et al. “Preservation of Internal Iliac Arterial Flow during Endovascular Aortic Aneurysm Repair Using the ‘Sandwich’ Technique.” Seminars in Interventional Radiology 30.1 (2013): 82–86. PMC. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

*While these grafts are not FDA approved for use in this manner, many times, with a prior endograft or graft in place, using the currently available and approved Gore Iliac Branch Endoprosthesis (IBE) in this common scenario would still be off label usage of an approved device, and only if it is feasible, which most times is not. For nonmedical readers, many commonly available devices and medications are used off-label, such as aspirin for blood thinning.

Categories
limb salvage PAD training vascular lab

Bypasses still work -a guest post from Dr. Max Wohlauer

pre-angio

angio text.png

Max Wohlauer, a recent graduate, is now Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin in the Division of Vascular Surgery. He sent along a case which is published with his patient’s and department’s permission.

The patient is an 80 year old man with diabetes mellitus, CHF, and pulmonary fibrosis, who presents with right foot toe ulcers. He had an inflow procedure earlier in the year, but it failed to heal the ulcers. An attempt at crossing a CTO of the SFA/POP failed. Angiogram (above), showed a distal anterior tibial artery target.

Preop ABI, TBI’s, toe waveforms, and pulse Dopplers are shown. are as shown.

 

preop TBI.pngpreop-abi

All point to likely limb loss. The TBI is 0 and the ABI is incompressible. Max planned for bypass. The saphenous vein was mapped and shown to be adequate.

preop saph vein mapping.png

Max comments:

  • Compromised runoff on angio. Cutdown on AT and determined it was adequate target at start of case
  • Right fem-AT bypass
  • Re-do groin exposure
  • Translocated non-reversed GSV
  • Subcutaneous tunnel

 

The operation went well. Completion angiography was performed showing a patent bypass and distal anastomosis with good runoff.

completion angiography.png

A followup duplex showed patency of the graft.

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Postop ABI’s showed excellent results:

Postop TBI.png

Commentary from Park

Bypasses work and are possible even in high risk individuals with good anesthesia and postoperative care. Because open vascular surgical skills are not well distributed while endovascular skills are more widely distributed, there is bias both in the popular mind and even among some catheter based specialists that bypass surgery is a terrible, no good thing. The fact is that a well planned bypass is usually both effective and durable even in high risk patients, but clearly it is not the only option.

Ongoing developments in endovascular technology bring greater possibilities for revasularizing patients. As someone who does both interventions and operations, I have seen spectacular success (and occasional failure) with both approaches, and I admit to having biases. It is human nature to be biased, but it is because of my biases, I support further ongoing study, as the mistake would be to establish monumental truths without supporting evidence. There is an ongoing randomized prospective trial (BEST-CLI) that aims to answer important questions about what approach brings about the best results in critical limb ischemia. It will bring evidence and hopefully, clarity, to this important disease.*

Finally, I am very proud to have participated in Dr. Wohlauer’s training, and look forward to seeing his evidence, experience, and even biases, presented at future meetings.

 

*CCF is a BEST-CLI study site.

Categories
chronic mesenteric ischemia MALS median arcuate ligament syndrome Takayasu's Arteritis techniques

Takayasu’s Arteritis Driven Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome: Unusual Symptoms Demand Unusual Solutions

precta_4

The patient is a young woman from overseas who was referred to the clinic for abdominal and chest pain that persisted after diagnosis and treatment of Takayasu’s Arteritis affecting her visceral (middle) aorta. A year prior to presentation, she had been having severe abdominal pain, 30 pound weight loss, and weakness. Laboratory findings included elevated inflammatory markers. CT scan showed inflammation around her celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery. She was treated with prednisone but only responded ultimately to immunosuppressives. Her pain remitted for a while and she regained weight and strength, but eventually in the months prior to consultation, symptoms of postprandial abdominal pain and nausea set in with concomitant constant midsternal chest pain which at times was incapacitating.

Examination was remarkable for a well nourished young woman in distress with epigastric tenderness. Inflammatory markers were normal and she was on methotrexate and tocilizumab. CTA (above) and duplex showed severe stenoses affecting the origins of the celiac axis and superior mesenteric artery. A composite of the centerlines through these showed the arteries to be critically narrowed at their origins (below), along with a mild to moderate stenosis of the aorta (above). No active inflammation could be seen.

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The anterior view of the 3DVR images of her CT showed an absence of collateralization via the inferior mesenteric artery and Arc of Riolan.

preCTA_3.jpg

This could account for her postprandial abdominal pain which was midabdominal, but the midsternal chest pain was difficult to explain. A cardiac cause had been ruled out at her home institution. It was on the lower part of the sternum and bordered the epigastrium. Through my work with median arcuate ligament syndrome, it was not unusual to have chest pain be part of the pain syndrome which comes about through the compression of the celiac plexus by the median arcuate ligament (reference), and treated effectively with the division of the median arcuate ligament and celiac plexus neurolysis.

I did feel that revascularizing the SMA was likely to improve her postprandial symptoms, given the paucity of circulation to the gut. I had a discussion about her chest pain and the thought that this was a celiac plexus neuropathy as the result of compression of the celiac plexus by her Takayasu’s disease. Typically, for younger people, I perform a bifurcated graft to the celiac axis and SMA from the distal descending thoracic aorta for younger patients, but I had no intention of replacing her aorta at this time, and wanted to reserve any definitive revascularization of her visceral vessels for a later time if it became necessary. Her pulses were full in the legs and she had no hypertension, renal insufficiency, or claudication. I therefore planned a ilio-mesenteric bypass, as it would preserve planes for a later more definitive operation if necessary, and would address her mesenteric ischemia.

I also proposed taking down the median arcuate ligament and lysing her celiac plexus to treat her chest pain symptoms. While I knew this would be fraught with some hazard because of the inflammation that had been there, it would be the best chance at treating this symptom that was debilitating her. I did not think the constant chest/epigastric pain had a vascular etiology. Normally, I would test this with a celiac plexus block, but given the likely inflammation involved, a failed block would not be helpful, and a positive one achieved with some difficulty.

The patient thought this was reasonable and agreed. She underwent a midline laparotomy and I exposed both the SMA and right common iliac artery in the retroperitoneum and tunneled a PTFE graft in a C-pattern in the retroperitoneum. The SMA was diseased proximally under the pancreas and affected by inflammatory scar tissue, and the vessel was thickened as well. The iliac pulse was normal and full and provided excellent inflow.

Going into the lesser sac, the crurae of the diaphragm were heavily scarred near the celiac axis. Division of these fiber was taken slowly and with the aid of both loupe magnification and a hook cautery (borrowed from laparoscopic surgery). The aorta was cleared of tissue first -it was also encased in scar tissue. The dissection going distally was made difficult by inflammatory scar tissue as well, but several large nerve trunks were encountered and divided. The celiac axis was atretic and small within this scar tissue, but was released down to the trifurcation.

The recovery was notable for remission of her chest pain and her ability to resume eating without pain or nausea. A CTA done before discharge showed a patent bypass.

post-cta_1

Followup communication has revealed continued remission of her presenting symptoms months after her operation.

We are working on presenting a followup to our recent paper on MALS. Increasingly, it is apparent that consideration of celiac plexus compression as an etiology of epigastric abdominal pain unexplained by more common gastrointestinal causes provides solutions for patients given no explanation for their debilitating pain. This pain can also affect the chest, and flanks and back in the distal thoracic dermatomes, and mimic the some of the symptoms of mesenteric ischemia. In those with recurrent MALS after a successful ligament release and interval of symptom remission, even in the absence of celiac axis compression, a positive response to a celiac plexus block points to the presence of either remnant plexus fibers or compression by scar tissue of the cut nerve endings (neuromata) and reoperation has been successful. Extrapolating this experience to this patient with inflammatory compression of the celiac plexus secondary to Takayasu’s Arteritis made sense and celiac neurolysis appears effective.

Reference

Weber JM, Boules M, Fong K, Abraham B, Bena J, El-Hayek K, Kroh M, Park WM. Median arcuate ligament syndrome is not a vascular disease. Ann Vasc Surg. 2016 Jan;30:22-7.

Categories
EndoRE EVAR kidney transplant remote endarterectromy techniques TEVAR

External iliac remote endarterectomy restores the artery to normal, opening the way for EVAR, TAVR, TEVAR, and transplant: alternate applications of EndoRE

preop-cta

One of the nice things  about practicing at the Clinic is being able to offer unique solutions. A severely diseased or occluded external iliac artery (EIA) can be a vexing problem, particularly if bilateral, in this endovascular era. Many cardiovascular devices require femoral access that has to traverse compromised iliac arteries -those with large (>16F) delivery systems require a sufficiently wide path to get the devices to the heart and aorta. Also, living related donor kidney transplantation is predicated on minimizing risk to maximize results and having significant iliac plaque negates one as a recipient for this high stakes elective procedure. In situations where the EIA is too small to accommodate devices because of atherosclerotic plaque, the typical solution is placement of a conduit to the common iliac artery or the aorta. The practice of “endopaving” with a covered stent graft and ballooning is also described, but its long term outcomes are not reported and the internal iliac artery is usually sacrificed in this maneuver.

This patient presents with lifestyle limiting claudication and an absent right femoral pulse. ABI is moderately reduced on the right to 0.57, and he had no rest pain. CTA at our clinic revealed an occluded EIA bracketed by severely calcified and nearly occlusive plaque of the common iliac artery (CIA) and common femoral artery (CFA).

cta-preop_7
Centerline Projection

The patient was amenable to operation. Traditionally, this would have been treated with some form of bypass -aortofemoral or femorofemoral with a common femoral endarterectomy. While endovascular therapy of the occluded segment is available, one should not expect the patencies to be any better than that of occlusive lesions (CTO’s) in other arteries. Hybrid open/endovascular therapy is an option as well with CFA endarterecotmy and crossing CIA to EIA stents, but I have a better solution.

The common femoral endarterectomy rarely ends at the inguinal ligament, and is uniquely suitable for remote endarterectomy, a procedure from the early to mid twentieth century.

endoRE graphic
Steps in Remote Endarterectomy

 

The addition of modern fluoroscopic imaging and combining with endovascular techniques makes this a safe and durable operation.

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The patient was operated on in a hybrid endovascular OR suite. A right groin incision was made to expose the common femoral artery for endarterectomy and left common femoral access was achieved for angiographic access, but also to place a wire across the occlusion into the common femoral artery.

All actions on the external iliac artery plaque are done with an up-and-over wire, allowing for swift action in the instance that arterial perforation or rupture occur. This event is exceedingly rare when the operation is well planned. With this kind of access, an occlusive balloon or repairing stent graft can be rapidly delivered.

The common femoral endarterectomy is done from its distal most point and the Vollmer ring is used to mobilize the plaque. A Moll Ring Cutter (LeMaitre Vascular) is then used to cut the plaque.

Ring dissection.png

Cutter.png

The plaque is extracted and re-establishes patency of the EIA.

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Plaque Specimen

The plaque end point is typically treated with a stent -in this  case, the common iliac plaque was also treated.

result.png

What is nice about this approach is that this artery has been restored to nearly its original condition. I have taken biopsies of the artery several months after the procedure in the process of using the artery as inflow for a cross femoral bypass, and the artery clamped and sewed like a normal artery and the pathology returned normal artery.

This has several advantages over conduit creation which can be a morbid and high risk procedure in patients who require minimally invasive approach. A graft is avoided. The artery is over 8mm in diameter where with stenting up to 8mm with an occlusive plaque, the danger of rupture is present, and often ballooning is restricted to 6mm-7mm. This is insufficient for many TEVAR grafts and TAVR valves.

For patients being worked up for living related donor transplants who are turned down because of the presence of aortoiliac plaque, those with the right anatomy can undergo this procedure and potentially become candidates after a period of healing.

 

Categories
innovation Uncategorized

Park Clamp

park-clamp_1

One of the reasons why I moved my family to Cleveland was to participate in innovation at the Clinic. One of the devices that I have been working on has reached the patent stage and I am free to divulge it. Full link below. Innovation is part of the culture here like oxygen in the air.

Clinic link

Categories
acute mesenteric ischemia AIOD aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) chronic mesenteric ischemia CTA PAD techniques visceral malperfusion

When good enough is better than perfect: a case of end stage visceral segment aortic occlusive disease

The patient is a woman in her 60’s who self referred for complaint of abdominal pain, weight loss, and rest pain of the lower extremities. She is a 40 pack year smoker and had severe COPD, hypertension, congestive heart failure with mitral regurgitation, chronic kidney disease stage IV, and ischemic rest pain of the legs. She had a 30 pound weight loss due to severe postprandial abdominal pain. She had bloody stools. Her kidney function was worsening, and dialysis was being planned for likely renal failure but she was against dialysis. She had consulted several regional centers but was felt to be too high risk for surgery and with her refusal of dialysis, would be a high risk for renal failure and death with intervention. Physical examination revealed weakened upper extremity pulses, and nonpalpable lower extremity pulses and a tender abdomen. In clinic, she developed hypoxia and dyspnea and was admitted directly to the ICU.

preop-cta

CTA (above) revealed severely calcified atherosclerotic plaque of her visceral segment aorta occluding flow to her mesenteric and renal arteries and to her leg. The right kidney was atrophic. The left kidney had a prior stent which looked crushed. The infrarenal aorta was severely diseased but patent and there were patent aortic and bilateral iliac stents.

Echocardiography revealed a normal ejection fraction of 60%, diastolic failure,  +2 to+3 mitral regurgitation, and pulmonary artery hypertension. She did respond to diuresis and stabilized in the ICU. Intervention was planned.

Options that I considered were an extranatomic bypass to her legs and revascularization from below. I have come across reports of axillo-mesenteric bypass, and I have performed ascending and descending thoracic aorta to distal bypass for severe disease, but concluded, as did the outside centers, that she was a formidable operative risk. Also, there was a high likelihood of great vessel occlusive disease. Looking at her CTA, I felt that she needed just a little improvement in flow -not perfect but good enough. The analogy is like drilling an airline through a cave-in. Also, her left kidney gave a clue -it was normal sized and survived the stress test of a contrast bolus for the CTA without dying. A discussion with the patient green lighted an attempt -she understood the cost of failure but did not wish to linger with this abdominal pain.

Access for intervention was via the left brachial artery. Aortography showed the severe stenosis at the origin of the SMA and the nearly occlusive plaque in the visceral segment aorta.

preintervention-aortogram

The plaque was typical of the coral reef type, and had an eccentric channel that allowed passage of a Glidewire. Access into the left renal artery was achieved. Its stent was patent but proximally and distally there were stenoses; this was treated with a balloon expandable stent. The path to it was opened with a balloon expandable stent to 8 mm from femoral access. This was the improvement the renal needed. A large nitinol stent was placed from this access in the infrarenal aorta when severe disease above the iliac stents was encountered.  The SMA was then accessed and treated with a bare metal stent.

post intervention.jpg
Renal stent was reaccessed and ballooned in this pentultimate angiogram

Her creatinine improved, as did her intestinal angina. She was discharged home. She later returned a month after the procedure with complaints of nausea and vomiting and right lower quadrant abdominal pain and was discovered to have an ischemic stricture of her small bowel. This was removed laparoscopically and she recovered well. She recovered her lost weight and now a year and a half later, remains patent and symptom free.

Discussion: Dr. Jack Wiley includes in the preface to his atlas of vascular surgery the words of Dr. Joao Cid Dos Santos, the pioneer of endarterectomy techniques, “Vascular surgery is the surgery of ruins.” And in that context, good enough is sufficient.

 

Categories
iliocaval venous ivc Venous venous intervention

The Cost of Success in Iliocaval Venous Thrombosis: Efficacy is Only One Aspect of Device and Procedural Innovation

preop-venous-duplex The patient is a young woman who three weeks prior to presentation developed sudden low back pain and left leg pain while exercising on an elliptical. This pain worsened through the subsequent weeks and she developed fevers, chills, and night sweats, and she came to the emergency department. There, she was found to have left thigh and leg swelling. Duplex revealed a left iliofemoral DVT starting from the iliocaval tributary and extending to her left femoral vein (figure above). A CT scan revealed a pulmonary embolism to the left lung (below). No precipitating factors were present. Vascular surgery was consulted.

ct-pe-left_1

Plan was for catheter directed thrombolysis. Venography from the patient’s popliteal vein via a short saphenous access revealed thrombotic occlusion from the left common femoral confluence to the iliocaval confluence. The thrombus was crossed, and ballooning showed there was chronicity to the occlusion in the pelvis evidenced by waisting of the balloon on inflation. A multihole infusion catheter was placed across the thrombus from the thigh to the inferior vena cava and recombinant tissue plasminogen activator was infused overnight.

pretpa-catheter-placement

The venogram from the popliteal vein showed a patent popliteal and femoral vein and the goal of this procedure became opening the common femoral  vein  and its confluence of multiple veins from the thigh, to connect it via stents to the vena cava (second image below).

femoral-vein-pre-tpa

pretpa-ivc

Clinically, there was no change overnight and when the patient was restudied next morning, there was still an occlusion starting at the common femoral vein.

post-lysis-cfv-occluded

At this point, I had a choice as to what to do next. First, I could stop, and have the patient start anticoagulation and return several months later -often, the common femoral vein returns to drain into pelvic collaterals. As I had discussed in an earlier post, venous interventions are no different from arterial ones in that inflow, draining vein, and outflow have to be considered. In the case of the veins, I like to think of it as connecting major confluences, and for a leg, the common femoral venous confluence is paramount.Confluences

Intervening from the popliteal vein to the vena cava is inferior to being able to connect draining veins at the common femoral confluence to the vena cava. So getting the common femoral vein to patency is critical, and can sometimes be achieved with anticoagulation and time. The second option is to break out a thrombectomy catheter and try to remove the thrombus by various machinations, ie. gadgets and novel catheter systems of which there are many. I felt that given the three week time course of the thrombus, the best we could get was some clearance of thrombus, leaving behind a complex network of chronic thrombus and fibrinous scar with the overnight lysis. I didn’t even try this second option and the thrombectomy machine stayed unplugged, the fancy (and expensive) catheters left hanging. The third option, surgery, was not indicated as the patient did not have signs of phlegmasia, and for the same reasons that the lysis didn’t work, opening the common femoral vein for an endovenectomy has uneven outcomes.

The fourth option, mechanical aspiration sheath thrombectomy (MAST), is a technique developed by Dan Clair, our former chair. As a concept, it is very simple. A large sheath (>12F) is introduced and the thrombus is aspirated while the bare sheath is advanced over a wire. The sheath is then removed and the contents emptied. For this case, an 18 F sheath was introduced into the femoral vein in mid thigh.

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The blood is ejected into a basin and a cell saver (in non-malignant cases) is used to salvage the whole blood.

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This reopened the common femoral vein. This was for me a very important step as without achieving this, I would have had to stent into the femoral vein, excluding many smaller veins draining into the common femoral vein, and effectively basing my revascularization off the popliteal vein confluence, an inferior inflow source for venous revascularization.

post-mast-cfv
CFV post MAST

With the common femoral vein open, placing stents from the vena cava to the common femoral vein was straightforward and described elsewhere (reference). The iliac vein remained closed due to the chronic thrombosis, which was clinically May Thurner’s Syndrome, and was stented.

completion fluoro.jpg

Three things deserve comment: the vena cava and iliac veins need to be dilated up to 18mm, and larger for the cava. This is disconcerting, but size does matter. Second, IVUS is critical in confirming that everything is open. Third, the 14mm nitinol stent placed into the common femoral vein will stay open, unlike a stent placed into the artery across the inguinal ligament. It likely has to do with the deeper position of the vein in relation to the artery which protects the vein from the ligament. We don’t have the large diameter nitinol stents designed for iliocaval venous revascularization yet, but the available stents do a good job.

large-balloon-in-iliocaval-vein

The patient was discharged on anticoagulation with resolving edema in the left leg and thigh. At one month followup, duplex confirmed wide patency of the stents and IVC and no new DVT.

Discussion: MAST illustrates a critical issue for all innovation in the current setting of resource limitation. Innovations must be made with not just a consideration to efficacy and potential market, but also cost. The large sheaths used in MAST are commonly available and cheaper by multiples of tens compared to the thrombectomy systems and catheters. Unpublished data reviewing 13 patients undergoing MAST with a mean followup showed 69% with complete thrombus removal, 31% with subsegmental removal, no operative mortality, and 92% primary patency at an average of 79 days of followup, all with symptom improvement (Clair, correspondence). Other groups have reported similiar results using “large catheters” (reference 2), but nothing can compare to an 18F sheath in clearing the iliocaval system.

The patient can expect to have excellent patency in the short to mid term (reference 1).

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References

  1. Titus JM et al. J Vasc Surg. 2011 Mar;53(3):706-12.
  2. Chung HH et al. Vasc Endovascular Surg. 2016 Jul;50(5):321-7

Categories
CTA imaging Uncategorized Venous venous aneurysm venous intervention

3D VR Images from CT Data Very Useful in Open Surgical Planning: Popliteal Venous Aneurysm

ct-3dvr-planning

Patient is a middle aged man with history of DVT and PE who in preoperative workup for another operation was found to have a popliteal venous aneurysm affecting his right leg. Unlike the recently posted case (link) which was fusiform, this aneurysm was saccular (CT above, duplex below). Popliteal venous aneurysms have a high risk of pulmonary embolism because: they tend to form clot in areas of sluggish flow and once loaded with clot, will eject it when compressed during knee flexion.

preop-duplex

When I perform open vascular surgery, I tend to get a CTA not just because it is minimally invasive and convenient, but because it gives important information for operative planning. The volume rendering function, which takes the 3 dimensional data set from a spiral CT scan, and creates voxels (3 dimensional pixels) of density information and creates stunning images such as the one featured on the current September 2016 issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery. But these are not just pretty pictures.

In fact, I use these images to plan open surgery, even to the location of incisions. Vital structures are seen in 3D and injuries are avoided. Take for example the CT Venogram on the panel below. By adjusting the window level, you have first the venographic information showing the saccular popliteal venous aneurysm on the left panel, you can also see where it is in reference to the muscles in the popliteal fossa. The greater saphenous vein and varicose veins below are well seen.

ct-3dvr-planning

By adjusting the level, subcutaneous structures are better seen including the small saphenous vein which could be harvested to create a patch or a panel graft from a posterior approach. A final adjustment of the window level on the right shows the skin, and I can now plan the curvilinear incision.

By changing the orientation, I can also recreate the surgeon’s eye view of the leg in the prone position (below).

or-view_1

And you can see how well it matches up to the actual operation shown below:

Intraop Photo.png

This was treated with plication of the saccular aneurysm and unlike the fusiform aneurysm, I did not sew over a mandrill (a large 24F foley) inserted through a transverse venotomy, but rather ran a Blalock type stitch under and over a clamp.

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The several weeks postoperatively showed no further trace of the saccular aneurysm.

postop-duplex

The volume rendering software grew out of the 3D gaming industry. The voxel data that paints flesh and bone on skeletons and costumes and weapons is far more complex than what is applied for the 3DVR packages that are available. The images shown for this post comes from TeraRecon/Aquarius, but they are also available as open source software from Osirix, Vitrea, and various software packages sold with CT scanners. While those that are tied to the scanners are often tied to dedicated workstations -limiting you to going to Radiology and taking over their workstation, many will work in the cloud for both the DICOM data and for virtual desktop access through mobile. Contrast is not necessary if the patient has kidney dysfunction -the vessels can be manually centerlined -ie. a line can be dropped in the center of the artery to illustrate its course when viewing the VR images.

I will plan the surgery while in the clinic with the patient, actually tracing out the incisions and dissections necessary to achieve success. It is a wonderful teaching tool for trainees. But most critically, it helps me imagine the operation and its successful completion.

Categories
pseudoaneurysm techniques ultrasound vascular lab venous intervention

Complex femoral pseudoaneurysm with arteriovenous fistula and large hematoma treated with novel hybrid therapy

wide avf and pseudo

The patient is a middle aged man who after an interventional procedure was referred to my clinic with an expanding hematoma due to a pseudoaneurysm complicated by an arteriovenous fistula. He was a week out from his procedure and had grown a hematoma roughly the size of a hard boiled egg in his left groin which caused him pain. A duplex scan showed a pseudoaneurysm (below) with fistula flow.

preduplex12

On examination, he had this well circumscribed indurated hematoma of hard boiled egg size with tenderness. There was a bruit on auscultation. Duplex showed a small chamber of flow adjacent to the proximal superficial femoral artery emptying into the femoral vein. Doppler in the common femoral vein showed relatively high fistula flow, and this is reported to be associated with failure of thrombin injection. CTA (top) demonstrated flow of contrast from femoral artery to vein through a pseudoaneurysm chamber that laid between. Angulation to an axial orientation showed this better (below).

axial AVF
Contrast flows from femoral artery (right) to the fistula chamber, then into the femoral vein.

axial CTA avf pseudo
Axial MPR
Operation was planned, but in the days leading up to the operation, I had a thought -the primary reason why ultrasound guided thrombin injection would fail is the AVF. It would be simple to fluoroscopically guide an angioplasty balloon on the arterial side to occlude the fistula inflow. The next step would be to get access to the pseudoaneurysm with a needle under ultrasound guidance, confirm location with a contrast injection. Once confirmed, the balloon is inflated and a small volume of thrombin would be injected. I discussed this with the patient in detail and he was enthusiastic about trying this before proceeding with an open repair.

 

pseudoaneurysm avf procedure sketch
Schematic of procedure
The procedure went as planned. Ultrasound guided access is aided with dual live display of B-mode and color flow (below)

Arteriography showed much of the contrast from injection of the pseudoaneurysm to preferentially go to the artery which made me worry less about creating a DVT/PE. With balloon inflated (below), thrombin was injected and balloon inflation held for about 30 seconds.

angio procedure31

There was resolution of flow in the pseudoaneurysm and in the fistula. Before and after duplexes are composited below.

prepost pseudo chamber

Repeat duplex on the following day showed resolution of the pseudoaneurysm and arteriovenous fistula.

In the days before ultrasound guided thrombin injection of pseudoaneurysms, open surgical repair of these was fraught with complications. First, these patients typically had cardiac disease. Second, they were usually anticoagulated often with multiple agents. And finally, they were  many times obese, making not only the operation fraught with complexity, but the ultimate wound healing a delicate and rare phenomena. Even now, we get emergency repairs when access hemostasis fails, and these patients are typically high risk. With hematoma evacuation, inflammation, lymph leaks, and infections may follow; the patient was correct in his enthusiasm for agreeing to proceed with a minimally invasive effort.

As to the techniques, they are all well established in the vascular surgeon’s toolbox. Ultrasound guided access of the pseudoaneursm should be obtained before arterial occlusion. This was  facilitated by general anesthesia which kept the patient from moving. Having access to excellent ultrasound and angiographic imaging made this possible. The patient felt much better and was discharged home the next day after his confirmatory duplex.

Categories
Nutcracker Syndrome techniques Venous venous intervention

Nutcracker Syndrome: A Simplified Approach With Gonadal Vein Transposition

CTV_1

The patient is a young woman in her twenties who developed severe right sided abdominal and back pain about 4 months prior to presentation associated with bouts of bloody urine. Activity and standing exacerbated her pain and inactivity and recumbency relieved it. She gained 15 pounds because of her inactivity. Examination was significant for tenderness over her left kidney. Urinanalysis showed positive proteinuria and hemaglobinuria.

Prior to consultation with me she had had an MR venogram showing compression of her left renal vein by the superior mesenteric artery (nutcracker phenomena). The presence of hematuria, proteinuria, and pain (albeit atypically right sided) made it nutcracker syndrome.

MRV color_Image006
Dilated left gonadal vein and pelvic varices indicate left renal vein (LRV) ouflow obstruction by the superior mesenteric artery (SMA)

I ordered a renal duplex and a CT venogram for procedural planning.

Duplex7680

On the duplex, the proximal left renal vein (LRV) was not visualized. The right kidney had normal parenchymal appearance and blood flows, while the left, the kidney appeared distended and had flows consistent with outflow obstruction.

spectral kidneys
Spectral Doppler flows show respirophasicity in right renal vein(RRV), outflow obstruction on left renal vein (LRV)
Duplex kidneys bmode
The left kidney is swollen and tender.

CT Venography showed the gonadal vein to be an important outflow vessel to the left renal vein with dilated proximal segment and reflux into pelvic varices.

CTV_1

CTA processed_5CTA processed_4

A left gonadal vein to iliac vein transposition was planned via a left lower quadrant retroperitoneal exposure. On the table, a venogram was performed with selective access of the left renal vein.

Venogram13

The injection from the LRV showed severe compression of the LRV with a channel only slightly larger than the sheath and avid reflux into the gonadal vein. Selective access into the gonadal vein and venography from a confluence in the pelvis showed that flow was one way from the LRV into the gonadal vein and this filled a large region of pelvic varices.

Venogram19

Venogram23

The gonadal vein was large caliber and refluxed into two large veins in the pelvis. The one that fed the varices was not selected for transposition, but rather the longer straighter tributary. A catheter was left for easier identification during the dissection.

A left lower quadrant incision was made and a retroperitoneal dissection performed exposing the gonadal vein and iliac vein.

IMG_0417

IMG_0420

 

Prior to ligation of the tributaries, a sheath was inserted and through this a LeMaitre valvulotome was brought up to the left renal vein and carefully deployed and pulled back, cutting the valves. This greatly increased the outflow from the vein as evidenced by the height of the blood spout from the vein when the sheath was removed. The varices were ligated at their root -treating them definitively. Transposition was to the external iliac vein, and I could see the feasibility of a laparoscopic or robotic approach to this operation (ref 3).

Completion venography showed excellent flow from the LRV down the gonadal vein into the iliac venous system.

Venogram41

The patient lost less than 10mL of blood and was discharged on postop day 2. Gratifyingly, all of her preoperative pain resolved and her UA showed no more hemoglobinuria or proteinuria.

Discussion

The described treatment options for nutcracker syndrome include (ref 1):

  1. Medical therapy aimed at decreasing renal venous hypertension (for hematuria)
  2. Renal autotransplantation
  3. Left renal vein transposition
  4. Left renal vein to vena cava bypass (autologous or PTFE)
  5. SMA transposition
  6. Nephrectomy
  7. Gonadal vein to IVC bypass
  8. Exovascular stenting (wrap of renal vein with ringed PTFE graft)
  9. Endovascular stenting

Many of the operations are of historic interest. Stenting deserves some comment. The patient self referred because she had read multiple reports of cardioembolization on internet support group comments. The largest nitinol stent (self expanding) available is 14mm. Wall stents in larger diameters are available, but are stiff, poorly conformable, and will elongate if constrained by a non-dilating stenosis like the external compression by the SMA. While acceptable results have been reported, the long term results (20-70 years) for younger patients is unknown. Migration is highly morbid, and usually to the heart, requiring sternotomy and cardiotomy to retrieve the stent. Optimally, a conforming 16-28mm self expanding stent should eventually become available, but conformability is typically inversely proportional to radial strength, and it is the less conformable stents that migrate. Work is ongoing to bring larger diameter nitinol stents for venous indications. The difference between May-Thurner Syndrome and Nutcracker syndrome isn’t merely the size of the veins and stents. The iliocaval confluence is relatively static with some movement of the lumbosacral joints and well suited for treatment with the relatively nonconforming Wall Stents. The left renal vein under the SMA is a very dynamic environment with motion of the SMA and the kidneys with respiration, ambulation, and activity leaving stents vulnerable early to migration and later to fracture.

The left renal vein transposition to the IVC is a nice operation with a good track record (ref 2). The downside is the long midline incision required with transperitoneal exposure. There is bleeding risk and postoperative complications of ileus, wound infection, and small bowel obstruction. Looking at the CTV, it seems obvious that the gonadal vein crosses over the iliac vein in the pelvis and would be a straightforward, less morbid, less invasive option. A review of the literature reveals only a single reference discussing three cases of left renal vein transposition (ref 3), and it was done with a surgical robot. I think that a laparoscopic approach would be simpler and less invasive and will consider developing this if volumes justify it. That said, the open retroperitoneal approach is very straightforward and well used exposure. Using venography to set up and then confirm the results of the transposition was helpful. I don’t think that measuring pressures and diameters and taking calipers to calculate stenoses is all that useful and in some instances a harmful method of justifying endovascular treatment of nutcracker phenomena in the absence of serious symptoms and a careful deliberate workup which includes a good history and physical, a UA, a duplex and CTV.

Intervening on the gonadal vein to iliac vein anastomosis should be straightforward from a groin or thigh venous access on the ipsilateral side. This operation doesn’t preclude any future interventions on the LRV. The pelvic varices were treated with direct ligation. The patient’s pain was successfully relieved in the short term.

Conclusion: Open retroperitoneal left gonadal vein to iliac vein transposition with gonadal vein valvulotomy is effecting in treating nutcracker syndrome.

References

  1. Kurklinsky AK, Rooke TW. Mayo Clin Proc. 2010 Jun; 85(6): 552–559.
  2. Reed NR et al. J Vasc Surg. 2009 Feb;49(2):386-93;
  3. White JV et al. J Vasc Surg Venous Lymphat Disord. 2016 Jan;4(1):114-8.