Evaluating the feasibility of contrast-enhanced ultrasound for detecting after preemptive coiling endoleaks in endovascular aortic aneurysm repair: A pilot study

Endovascular aortic aneurysm repair is widely used for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), but has a 10% to 40% incidence of type II endoleak during follow-up. There are various techniques to treat these endoleaks in the case of enlarging of the AAA, but the clinical effectiveness is low. In recent years, preemptive AAA sac embolization has shown some encouraging results with significant AAA shrinkage. However, the presence of embolic material can complicate continued endoleak detection making assessment of treatment outcome difficult. We investigate the ability of contrast-enhanced-ultrasound examination to detect endoleaks in patients undergoing preemptive coil embolization of the AAA sac.