How to prevent spinal cord injury during endovascular repair of thoracic aortic disease

The incidence of spinal cord injury in thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has been 3–5 % from recent major papers where sacrifice of the critical intercostal arteries is inevitable by a stent graft. Hemodynamic stability, which depends on a network of blood vessels around the cord is most important not only during but also after stent-graft deployment. High risk factors of spinal cord injury during endovascular aortic repair are (1)...