The purpose of this case report was to discuss the efficacy of The Amplatzer Vascular Plug (AVP) in endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) for ruptured aortoiliac aneurysm. A 73-year-old man was referred to our institution with a diagnosis of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) by CT scan. The CT scan showed an rAAA of 70 mm (Fitzgerald classification 3) and a right common iliac aneurysm of 30 mm. The patient was immediately transferred from the ER to the OR and treated with EVAR in combination with occlusion of the right internal iliac artery (IIA) using AVP. The total procedural time was 138 min. The patient recovered uneventfully after the operation with an ICU stay of 2 days and was discharged 9 days after the onset. EVAR has been recognized as a therapeutic option for rAAA in Japan. However, it is not yet been generally adopted as a first-line therapy for rAAA accompanied with iliac aneurysm because of the necessity to occlude IIA. The conventional method with coils to induce thrombosis of IIA is unsuitable for patients in a critical situation for the time required and the difficulty in precise placement. AVP is a nitinol-based self-expanding cylindrical device that is used for arterial embolization. AVP allows assured embolization of IIA in a shorter procedural time, which is essential in an urgent situation. Although AVP is still under post-market surveillance in Japan and only available in limited institutions, the usage of AVP should be considered as an adjunctive procedure in EVAR for rAAA and may expand the limits of endovascular treatment for rAAA.

Background: Unstable sternal fixation following sternotomy is one of the risk factors that affects postoperative outcomes in cardio-thoracic surgery and is associated with increased risk of infection, bleeding and delayed rehabilitation due to pain associated with sternal movement. Sternal plate systems, which help stabilize fixation, has been limited in use due to patients' comorbidities, such as diabetes mellitus (DM) and obesity. The conventional wire sternal-fixation procedure, which depend on years of physician' experience, raise concerns such as unstable sternal fixation due to uncompleted wire twisting. Therefore, a novel sternal-fixation procedure using both titanium cable and a PLA mesh plate was investigated as a potential improvement for sternal closure. We compared the ability of this new sternum fixation procedure (group N) against the conventional sternal fixation procedure using only a wire (group O) to achieve more stable postoperative sternal fixation. Methods and Results: Among adult open-heart surgeries performed between August 2020 and April 2023, 155 patients who underwent postoperative CT were included, with group N being the combined group and group O being the group using conventional metal wires: group N (86 patients: M 65, F 21) and group O (69 patients: M 50, F 19). Preoperative factors included age at surgery (group N: group O)=68.4±10.6 : 69.6±11.5 years (p=0.25)), BMI (group N: group O=23.0±3.7 : 24.1±7.7 (p=0.16)) and HbA1c (group N: group O=6.3±1.1 : 8.0±10.3% (p=0.10), and no factors were significantly different between the two groups. The CT analysis at the point of hospital discharge after surgery measured postoperative sternal deviation in the third rib position. Transverse displacement was significantly reduced (group N: group O=0.22±0.73: 0.83±1.08 mm (p=0.005)), and longitudinal displacement also showed an improvement but the difference was not statistically significant (group N: group O=0.53±0.86: 0.72±1.14 mm (p=0.13). Conclusion: A novel sternum closing technique using a tension-anchored titanium cable and a PLA mesh plate demonstrated improved postoperative sternal fixation in a controlled study with 155 patients. This new procedure also enables standardized stable sternal closure with a constant force without relying on conventional empirical sensation and without suppressing sternal cutting, thus contributing to the improvement of postoperative quality of life and prevention of complications.