Aortic endograft infection can be eradicated by excision and in situ or extra-anatomic replacement but is often associated with early postoperative morbidity and mortality and occasionally with a need for late removal for reinfection. Prosthetic graft replacement after explanation is associated with higher reinfection and graft-related complications and decreased survival compared with autogenous reconstruction.

OBJECTIVES The management of arterial pathology in individuals with vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (vEDS) remains a challenge. Here we describe the correlation between COL3A1 gene mutation type and the clinical phenotype in individuals with vEDS. METHODS Individuals with confirmed molecular diagnoses of vEDS were enrolled in a multi institutional natural history study. Data collected included demographics, clinical and family histories, arterial pathology (aneurysm, dissection, and rupture), operative details, and autopsy reports. Individuals were classified into two cohorts based on the type of COL3A1 mutations and their effect on the amount of normal collagen produced: MIN group had mutations that lead to minimal (10–15%) production of normal type III collagen and HI group had haploinsufficiency mutations that lead to production of half the normal type III collagen. RESULTS A cohort of 68 (72%) individuals from 56 families had arterial pathology (44% male, 13% HI). The HI group was older at the time of their first vascular event (mean 42 years, range 26–58 vs. 33 years, range 8–62, P = .016). The HI group had a higher incidence of aortic pathology compared to the MIN group (56% vs. 21%. P = .025). Visceral arterial pathology was seen in 43 arteries in 23 individuals in the MIN group versus only a single artery in 5 individuals in the HI group. Emergent surgical procedures were more likely to be undertaken when vEDS diagnosis was not known (81% vs. 41%, P = .005) and the majority of these procedures were open surgical repair compared to endovascular repair (81% vs. 19%, P = .019). In the elective setting, there was equal use of open and endovascular repair. Post-operative complications were highest when the diagnosis of vEDS was not known (62% vs. 14%, P < .001) and when procedures were undertaken in an emergency setting (5% vs. 55% P < .001). There was no mortality due to arterial complications in the HI cohort and 21% in the MIN cohort (P = .132). CONCLUSIONS Arterial pathology in vEDS individuals is related to the underlying COL3A1 mutation type. The arterial pathology in individuals with HI mutations occurs at later ages with a higher incidence of aortic disease compared with other COL3A1 mutation types. Molecular diagnosis is recommended as diagnosis confirmation, appropriate surveillance, and prophylactic interventions in an elective setting improve surgical outcomes.

Paraesophageal hernia repair has been associated with a recurrence rate of up to 42%. Thus, in the last decade, there has been increasing interest in the use of mesh reinforcement of the hiatal repair. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is one of the materials that have been used for this purpose, as it is thought to induce minimal tissue reaction. We report two cases in which complications specific to the use of PTFE mesh in this location developed over time. In the first patient, a gastrectomy was required to remove a large PTFE mesh which had eroded into the esophagogastric junction and gastric cardia. The second patient experienced severe dysphagia resulting from a stricture caused by the implant, requiring removal of the mesh. Although such complications have only rarely been reported, the severity and consequences of these incidents, as reported in the literature and in light of our observations, suggest that an alternative to PTFE should be considered for crural reinforcement during paraesophageal hernia repair.

Acute aortic dissections are a preventable cause of sudden death if individuals at risk are identified and surgically repaired in a non-emergency setting. Although mutations in single genes can be used to identify at-risk individuals, the majority of dissection case subjects do not have evidence of a single gene disorder, but rather have the other major risk factor for dissections, hypertension. Initial genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified SNPs at the FBN1 locus associated with both thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. Here, we used the Illumina HumanExome array to genotype 753 individuals of European descent presenting specifically with non-familial, sporadic thoracic aortic dissection (STAD) and compared them to the genotypes of 2,259 control subjects from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study matched for age, gender, and, for the majority of cases, hypertension. SNPs in FBN1, LRP1, and ULK4 were identified to be significantly associated with STAD, and these results were replicated in two independent cohorts. Combining the data from all cohorts confirmed an inverse association between LRP1 rs11172113 and STAD (p = 2.74 × 10(-8); OR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.76-0.89) and a direct association between ULK4 rs2272007 and STAD (p = 1.15 × 10(-9); OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.23-1.49). Genomic copy-number variation analysis independently confirmed that ULK4 deletions were significantly associated with development of thoracic aortic disease. These results indicate that genetic variations in LRP1 and ULK4 contribute to risk for presenting with an acute aortic dissection.