Maladies cardiovasculaires et diagnostic

D Dimers can be Useful in EVAR Follow Up

Abstract

Anantha K Ramanathan and Mythily Ramanathan

Introduction: D Dimer has been shown to be elevated in abdominal aortic aneurysms (untreated).

Report: An 80 year old man presented with left calf swelling. During the investigations to exclude deep vein thrombosis a very high level of D Dimer was noted. This prompted evaluation of his previous endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) graft when the duplex scan of the left lower extremity was normal. A large Type II endoleak was found. A further two patients with endoleaks had elevated D Dimers. In one of them the D Dimer level came down with resolution of endoleak.

Conclusion: D Dimer may play an important role in the follow up after EVAR. This new observation needs to be studied further in this setting.