Endovascular Aortoiliac Aneurysm Repair: Surgical Progress Through New Treatment Paradigms and Innovative Endograft Design

Effective treatment for patients with an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) began more than 50 years ago through the development of prosthetic grafts, which were used to replace aneurysmal segments of diseased arteries. Open surgical repair of AAAs became the gold standard for treating this disease. In 1999, two device manufacturers received US Food and Drug Administration approval for their endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) devices to treat selected patients with AAA. During the next 10 years, multiple other EVAR devices received US Food and Drug Administration approval, and, now, EVAR rivals open surgical repair as the standard for treating aortoiliac aneurysm disease. The purpose of this article is to outline advances in the device technology used for EVAR procedures, identify historical progress of treatment options, recognize complications after EVAR, describe improvements in device design, and specify related nursing implications.