• Alexey Kamenskiy, Paul Aylward, Anastasia Desyatova, Matthew DeVries, Christopher Wichman, and Jason MacTaggart.
• Department of Surgery, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska.
• Ann. Surg. 2021 Dec 1; 274 (6): 108910981089-1098.

BackgroundAortic elasticity creates a cushion that protects the heart from pressure injury, and a recoil that helps perfuse the coronary arteries. TEVAR has become first-line therapy for many aortic pathologies including trauma, but stent-grafts stiffen the aorta and likely increase LV afterload.ObjectiveTest the hypothesis that trauma TEVAR is associated with LV mass increase and adverse off-target aortic remodeling.MethodsComputed Tomography Angiography (CTA) scans of 20 trauma TEVAR patients (17 M/3 F) at baseline [age 34.9 ± 18.5 (11.4-71.5) years] and 5.1 ± 3.1 (1.1-12.3) years after repair were used to measure changes in LV mass, LV mass index, and diameters and lengths of the ascending thoracic aorta (ATA). Measurements were compared with similarly-aged control patients without aortic repair (21 M/21 F) evaluated at similar follow-ups.ResultsLV mass and LV mass index of TEVAR patients increased from 138.5 ± 39.6 g and 72.35 ± 15.17 g/m2 to 173.5 ± 50.1 g and 85.48 ± 18.34 g/m2 at the rate of 10.03 ± 12.79 g/yr and 6.25 ± 10.28 g/m2/yr, whereas in control patients LV characteristics did not change. ATA diameters of TEVAR patients increased at a rate of 0.60 ± 0.80 mm/yr, which was 2.4-fold faster than in controls. ATA length in both TEVAR and control patients increased at 0.58 mm/yr. Half of TEVAR patients had hypertension at follow-up compared to only 5% at baseline.ConclusionsTEVAR is associated with LV mass increase, development of hypertension, and accelerated expansile remodeling of the ascending aorta. Although younger trauma patients may adapt to these effects, these changes may be even more important in older patients with other aortic pathologies and diminished baseline cardiac function.Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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