Four-Year Data From the STABLE Aortic Dissection Trial: An Interview With Joseph Lombardi, MD

Lombardi: What we learned in the 4-year data set was that dissection-related mortality was only 11% 4 years out. This was a very complicated group of patients that had a life threatening situation requiring surgery, and we were able to get these patients out of trouble, and sustain overwhelming results at 4 years with only an 11% mortality. Anyone with an interest in aortic dissection would agree that was a pretty remarkable finding.

VDM: Any surprising results?

Lombardi: The mortality at 11% really does jump out at you. Classically these patients really don’t do well in a complicated setting, so the ability to offer an effective treatment option like this to patients with this type of disease is really remarkable. The ability to manage these patients afterwards is also equally remarkable in terms of what they can do through the stents, depending on what the patient’s presenting with.

VDM: How could this change the way vascular specialists approach aortic dissection?

Lombardi: I think that we’re starting to realize that there is no real treatment of aortic dissection. Most interventionalists and surgeons are looking at how to “manage” it best, and this offers another tool for this management process.  We find that not only does it effectively get people out of trouble, it allows for easier management later when new problems arise.

VDM: What’s the most important takeaway?

Lombardi: I think the most important thing to take away is not only does the very low 30-day mortality speak very highly of using this device combination in dissection related emergencies but also the long-term data speaks to the sustained benefits for those patients.

Editor’s note: Joseph Lombardi, MD, FACS, is Professor & Chief of the Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery at Cooper University Health Care.