Severe intraluminal atheroma and iliac artery access affect spinal cord ischemia after thoracic endovascular aortic repair for degenerative descending aortic aneurysm

Covering the intercostal artery branching of the Adamkiewicz artery during endovascular aortic repair increases the risk of spinal cord ischemia

“…Shaggy aorta, iliac artery access, and procedural time were identified as risk factors for SCI in the entire cohort, in agreement with several previous studies. 4 , 20 , 21 , 22 The most important finding of our study was that shaggy aorta, iliac artery access, 23 and procedural time were similarly identified (with greater ORs) as risk factors for SCI in the covered AKA group, whereas no risk factors for SCI were identified in the uncovered AKA group. These results indicate that covering the ICA-AKA increases the risk of SCI, but the risk of SCI is low if the ICA-AKA is not covered by stent grafts.…”