This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Jacques Kpodonu Edward B. Diethrich Permission Requests Google Scholar Articles by Kpodonu, J. Articles by Diethrich, E. B. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Kpodonu, J. Articles by Diethrich, E. B. Related Collections Great vessels Peripheral vascular

Use of the right brachio-femoral wire approach to manage a thoracic aortic aneurysm in an extremely angulated and tortuous aorta with an endoluminal stent graft

^a Division of Cardiac Surgery, North Western Memorial Hospital, 201 East Huron Street, Galter 11-140, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
^b Department of Cardiovascular and Endovascular Surgery, Arizona Heart Hospital and Arizona Heart Institute, Phoenix, AZ, USA

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-312-695-3121; fax: +1-312-695-1903.

E-mail address: jkpodonu{at}yahoo.com (J. Kpodonu).

The presence of a tortuous, elongated thoracic aorta and an angulated arch poses a technical challenge for the delivery of an endoluminal graft to the target site to exclude management of a thoracic aortic aneurysm. Despite the availability of a flexible delivery sheath system, adjunct techniques are necessary to deal with extremely tortuous thoracic aortas. The use of a brachio-femoral wire with tension applied at both ends is a useful technique to deliver an endoluminal graft in an angulated thoracic arch. We describe the use of a right brachio-femoral wire approach to treat a thoracic aortic aneurysm in a 75-year-old man with an elongated, tortuous and angulated arch aorta.

Key Words: Thoracic aneurysm; Endoluminal graft; Brachio-femoral wire