William Jordan Reports Successful Four Year Endoanchor System Treatment of AAA
NOVEMBER 2019
William D. Jordan, Jr., MD, chief of the Emory Division of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy, presented four-year data from the primary cohort arm of the ANCHOR registry study of Medtronic's Heli-FX EndoAnchor system at the 46th Annual VEITHsymposium in New York. Dr. Jordan's co-investigator on the study, Jean-Paul de Vries, MD, PhD, of St. Antonius Hospital in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, presented the revision cohort results. The data showed that the system was safe and effective at four years in patients requiring primary or revisional repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).
The ANCHOR registry is a prospective, multicenter study evaluating the real-world use of EndoAnchors in patients at sites in the US and Europe. The EndoAnchor is a spiral-shaped, metallic implant intended to provide fixation and sealing between endovascular aortic grafts that have exhibited migration or endoleak in the native artery.
In the primary arm of 716 patients who underwent endovascular aortic repair (EVAR) with the EndoAnchor system (mean age, 73 years; 22% women; 88.6% with hostile aortic necks, which make treatment for AAA more difficult), Dr. Jordan reported that there were no cases of migration, the endograft was delivered successfully in 98.2% of patients, and the EndoAnchors adequately penetrated the aorta in 98.7% of patients.
Only 3.4% of patients experienced Type Ia endoleaks (gaps between the graft and the vessel wall at seal zones), and 62.1% of patients had positive regression and stability of the dilated arterial wall known as the aneurysmal sac. Dr. Jordan also reported that 97.7% of patients were free from aneurysm-related mortality, 98.2% did not suffer ruptures, and 86.9% did not have to undergo a second endovascular procedure.
"By recreating the durability of a sutured anastomosis, EndoAnchors create both radial and longitudinal fixation, which is especially important in challenging anatomies," says Dr. Jordan. "These mechanisms help protect against neck dilatation and promote sac regression, which has shown to predict better EVAR long-term survival. We are also observing that patients treated prophylactically with Heli-FX are seeing a significant therapeutic benefit, which tells us that EndoAnchor implants are an opportunity for EVAR improvement in patients at risk for disease progression."
Dr. de Vries reported similar results for the revision cohort, concluding that "the use of EndoAnchors in the revision setting can be successful in treating Type Ia endoleaks if done for the right indications and done correctly."
Disclosure:
The registry was funded by Medtronic. Dr. Jordan reports he received institutional research grants from Cook Medical, Endologix, Medtronic, Terumo, and W.L. Gore and Associates, and consultant fees paid to his institution from Medtronic and W.L. Gore and Associates. Dr. De Vries reports he consults for Bentley Innomed and Medtronic, serves on advisory boards for Getinge and Medtronic, received research grants from Cardionovum and Stichting Lijf & Leven, and is co-founder of Endovascular Diagnostics.