Endovascular Aids for Controlling Open Surgical Bleeding

In the situation of open surgical bleeding, traditional means of hemostatic control such as clamping, remote or direct compression usually require additional surgical dissection and/or preclude adequate exposure for vascular repail: Extensive vascular dissection in the face of active bleeding is technically difficult, time-consuming, and may aggravate the bleeding problem due to poor visualization. Use of endovascular aids such as occluding balloons, shunts and stent-grajs may avoid the need for additional dissection and at the same time provide adequate exposure for vascular repail: The literature on this subject is scattered and anecdotal, probably due to its obviousness: "when it works it works". In this chaptq endoluminal hemostatic techniques, from the neck down, are reviewed and are interspersed with tricks and tips from personal experience which the authors hope will benefit those entering the field.