Most Coarctations, Recoarctations, and Coarctation-Related Aneurysms Should Be Treated Endovascularly

Abstract

Based on a Presentation at the 2013 VEITH Symposium, November 19-23, 2013 (New York, NY, USA) For patients with coarctation of the aorta (CoA), surgical intervention results in an overall survival rate nearly twice that of medical management. Therefore, surgical correction of CoA has traditionally been warranted in the majority of patients, even though open repair entails its own complications. With the advent of endovascular technology, many interventionalists hoped that this approach would decrease the complications associated with open surgical repair of CoA. Nevertheless, there is still an ongoing debate about the merits of traditional open surgery versus endovascular therapy. In this review, we discuss the role of these two approaches for the management of CoA, recoarctation, and coarctation-related aneurysms.