Endovascular stents and stented grafts for the treatment of aneurysms and other arterial lesions.

The combination of prosthetic graft and intravascular stent technologies will probably become an important part of the treatment for aneurysmal and occlusive disease as well as for traumatic vascular injuries. This technology potentially permits reduced operative morbidity and mortality rates as well as decreased intraoperative blood loss, cost, and hospital stay, with ultimately improved patient care. Once additional experience with this important new technique has been obtained, randomized, prospective trials comparing standard therapy to endovascular grafting procedures will be needed to substantiate this form of therapy for the treatment of various arterial lesions.