An estimated 1.5 million Americans have an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), which can be life-threatening if left untreated and approximately 200,000 people are newly diagnosed each year. Open surgical repair of aortic aneurysms, a treatment option that has been practiced for decades, has high procedure related mortality rates and long patient recovery times.

However, open surgical repair provides patients with a very durable treatment that requires little to no follow-up or need for secondary interventions. EVAR, which has been in practice since the 1990’s, is a minimally invasive catheter based AAA treatment that has significantly reduced procedure related mortality and patient recovery time—but requires annual monitoring and may need additional interventions in the years after treatment.