Ringside view of evolution of endovascular therapy in the management of aortic aneurysms

Abstract

In the autumn of 1990, Juan Parodi received a phone call from the President of Argentina: “My secret service has told me that you are doing something new for aneurysms. My cousin has an aneurysm, back pain and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, so please treat with the new intervention.” On September 7 in the same year, the president’s cousin, a 70-year-old male with a 6-cm abdominal aortic aneurysm, underwent the first successful endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) in the Western world, which became widely known to all and was reported in the following year in the Annals of Vascular Surgery.