Abstract

Minimally invasive techniques for vascular surgery as well as for other surgeries have been developed in order to reduce mortality, morbidity, ICU admissions, length of hospital stay and discomfort to the patient. During the past 15 years, several different kinds of endovascular aortic prosthesis (EAP) have been developed, leading to the minimally invasive surgery of the aorta or Endovascular Aneurysm Repair (EVAR). It began with the elective management of abdominal aortic aneurysm and has now found its way to the management of diseases of the thoracic aorta, as well as acute aortic pathologies like ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms, acute complicated aortic B-dissection and traumatic thoracic aortic rupture. Although initially done under general anaesthesia, the EVAR enables the use of local and regional anaesthetic techniques, especially useful for patients with limited respiratory reserve and poor haemodynamic.