Surgical conversion for intragraft thrombosis following endovascular repair of traumatic aortic injury

We report the case of a 32-year-old man with severe polytrauma, submitted to urgent endovascular exclusion of a posttraumatic thoracic aortic pseudoaneurysm. Two years later, computed tomography scan showed asymptomatic mural atherothrombosis of the aortic stent graft in its middle-distal portion, and the patient was placed on oral anticoagulants. As subsequent computed tomography scan showed progression of the thrombosis, the patient underwent surgical conversion, with stent graft explantation and in situ aortic replacement. Gross examination revealed mural organized thrombosis and a significant infolding of the distal end of the stent graft. © 2012 Society for Vascular Surgery