Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR) is the process of surgically removing the aneurysm from a patient's heart. Endovascular procedures are relatively uncommon and, therefore, often require a lengthy period of recovery before the procedure can be completed. While this recovery time can sometimes put the patient in danger of further injury or complications, if it is managed properly an EAV treatment can be remarkably successful. Unfortunately, there are far too many stories of people who have undergone an EAV treatment only to suffer a relapse several months or even years later.
The root cause of this problem is the fact that, in the case of the treatment, the aneurysm is not located inside the heart per se. Instead, it is located just below it. Because the aneurysm is so far away from the heart, blood that may have initially circulated to the heart has, instead, been forced to leak into the inferior vena cava, a large vein located between the heart and the lung. Because of this location, and because the leak was caused by the positioning of the aneurysm, it can take some time for the blood to return to the heart. In some patients, this may even result in a life-threatening condition known as pulmonary embolism.
As mentioned earlier, the aneurysm can only be surgically removed if it has become too big. However, it does not have to do so immediately following the surgery. Often, the condition develops over a period of time. If it does, the aneurysm will actually begin to grow even when the heart is not operating improperly. This leads to what is known as 'stenosis'.