ABSTRACT
It is almost two decades since the first reports of the treatment of thoracic aortic aneurysms
using homemade endografts (1,2). In the intervening years, the efforts of the endograft
companies have been directed at producing the perfect endograft for use in the thoracic
aorta. The ideal endograft would have the following features: durable graft and stent material,
ease of deployment, accuracy of deployment, adequate radial force to maintain the aortic
lumen, a low-profile delivery system, conformability for the curves of the aortic arch and
tortuous thoracic aortas, availability in a wide variety of diameters and lengths to treat all sizes
of aortic lesions in patients of all ages, and different designs of endografts to treat a variety of
aortic pathologies.
