Feasibility and early outcomes of aortic coarctation treatments with BeGraft Aortic stent

OBJECTIVES: To assess feasibility and early outcomes of using BeGraft Aortic stent in the treatment of aortic coarctation (CoA).

BACKGROUND: BeGraft Aortic stent (Bentley InnoMed, Hechingen, Germany) allows large postdilation diameter up to 30 mm. With availability of lengths of 19-59 mm and lower stent profile, they can be used in native and recurrent CoA in adults and in pediatric patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a multicentre retrospective analysis of 12 implanted BeGraft Aortic stents in CoA between May 2017 and April 2019.

RESULTS: Twelve patients aged 7.7-38 years (median 18.3 years) with body weight of 19.9-56 kg (median 45.5 kg). Eight patients (66%) had native juxtaductal CoA while four had recurrent CoA after previous surgical or transcatheter treatments. The stents were implanted successfully in all the patients with no serious adverse events. The length of the stents ranged from 27 to 59 mm and the implanted stent diameter varied from 12 to 18 mm. The median intraprocedural CoA pressure gradient decreased from 25 mmHg (range 16-66 mmHg) to 2 mmHg (range 0-13 mmHg). The mean follow-up duration was 10.2 months. Two patient (16.6%) had residual stent narrowing requiring staged redilation. One patient (8%) had pseudoaneurysm formation at 1 year cardiac CT follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS: The BeGraft Aortic stent may be considered to be safe and effective in the short term in treatment of CoA from childhood to adulthood. Long-term follow-up is needed.