Introduction: A thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a condition with a high mortality rate, which is associated with atherosclerosis, age, infection, inflammation, trauma, congenital abnormality or degeneration. The main treatment is conventional Surgery and there is an emerging technique, Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR). The latter is a noninvasive procedure, quickly adopted by clinicians for the endovascular treatment of TAA.Purpose: The purpose of this review article is to highlight the advantages and the appropriateness of the use of Doppler ultrasound in the early detection and follow-up of endoleaks after TEVAR compared with other imaging techniques.
Methods:We conducted a review of the literature, based on the keywords: aneurysm, TEVAR, endoleak, follow-up, imaging techniques, Doppler ultrasound. We used PubMed and B-on data, where 48 articles were selected, 27 of these were analyzed because they corresponded to the keywords above.
Development:The main complication inherent in TEVAR, is the formation ofendoleaks. Thus, it is extremely important to employ different imaging techniques. Computerized tomography (CT) is the Gold Standard in the detection and identification of endoleaks. Doppler ultrasound has been recognized as a good choice for this technique due to its low cost, easy interpretation and implementation and lack of exposure to any type of radiation.
Conclusion:Doppler ultrasound is an imaging technique of high quality and comparable to CT in the measurement of aneurysm, endoleak after TEVAR identification and can be used for surveillance and follow-up.