Issues with just wrapping an Aneurysm from the outside?

[Gmieom]

This may be a dumb question, but is it effective to wrap an aneurysm with something like Dacron or some elastic material instead of cutting out the aneurysm and replacing it with a synthetic graft? I am mainly talking about thoracic and abdominal aneurysms here. Does wrapping around the outside of the vessel provide poor protection from dissection or rupture, or is it possibly too irritating to the tissues it touches?

Also, it seems like both open and endovascular repair may obliterate the connection to the gonadal arteries, is there some collateral circulation for the gonads?

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[LucidSplash]

1) It doesn't work, at least not for very long. Ask Einstein.

2) If the gonadals/testiculars/ovarian arteries are ligated, gonads can get blood flow from the vesicular/prostatic arteries. Occasionally, there is gonad atrophy after ligation, but it's usually not a big issue in this patient population (i.e. Older... With issues with blood flow to other... areas).

 

[ProfMD]

Interrupting the radicular arteries to the spinal cord can be a problem, though.

 

[Gmieom]

There is an engineer with Marfan Syndrome who had his thoracic aorta wrapped in 2004, he is still doing fine. Einstein's surgeon used cellophane, maybe this is just an issue that materials scientists and engineers can overcome.

The engineer gave a TED talk 5 years ago about his aortic root wrapping if anybody is interested:

 

[vhawk]

So was this thread just like an ad or what