• Mark A Farber, Joseph S Giglia, Benjamin W Starnes, Scott L Stevens, Jeremiah Holleman, Rabih Chaer, Jon S Matsumura, and TAG 08-02 clinical trial investigators.
• Department of Surgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. mark_farber@med.unc.edu
• J. Vasc. Surg. 2013 Sep 1;58(3):651-8.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the conformable GORE TAG thoracic endoprosthesis (CTAG) device (W. L. Gore and Associates, Flagstaff, Ariz) for the endovascular repair of traumatic aortic transections.MethodsA prospective, nonrandomized, multicenter trial was conducted at 21 sites. Primary safety end points included 30-day all-cause mortality. The effectiveness end point was freedom from a major device event requiring reintervention through 1-month follow-up.ResultsFifty-one subjects were enrolled between December 2009 and January 2011 with polytraumatic injuries and a mean Injury Severity Score of 32 ± 14. The proximal mean intimal aortic diameter measured 24 mm, while the mean distal intimal diameter was 22 mm. A total of 57 CTAG devices were implanted (mean, 1.1/subject; range, 1-2) with a mean patient age of 44 years (range, 21-87) and a male-to-female ratio of 2:1. Technical success was 100% with an operative mortality of 0%. Femoral access was utilized in 96% of patients. The mean procedure time and blood loss was 105 minutes and 148 mL, respectively. All subjects required admission to an intensive care unit with a mean hospital stay of 14.6 days. Adjuvant techniques (ie, lumbar drains and induced hypertension) to prevent paraplegia were used in only 7.8% of patients. No patient developed paraplegia despite 63% having complete or partial left subclavian artery coverage and only 9% of those receiving left subclavian artery revascularization. In addition, there were no device compressions or major device events reported. Overall mortality at 30 days was 7.8%, and all were adjudicated by the clinical events committee as not being device or procedure related. Serious adverse events occurred in 39.2% of patients through 30 days. To date, there have been no conversions to open repair. Two site-reported endoleaks were detected during the mean follow-up of 4.2 months, which did not require reintervention.ConclusionsThe CTAG device was demonstrated to be a safe and effective treatment for traumatic aortic transection based on 30-day outcomes. There were no device-related serious adverse events.Copyright © 2013 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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