Image Fusion During Standard and Complex Endovascular Aortic Repair, to Fuse or Not to Fuse? A Meta-analysis and Additional Data From a Single-Center Retrospective Cohort

Purpose: To determine if image fusion will reduce contrast volume, radiation dose, and fluoroscopy and procedure times in standard and complex (fenestrated/branched) endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). 

Materials and Methods: A search of the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases was performed in December 2019 to identify articles describing results of standard and complex EVAR procedures using image fusion compared with a control group. Study selection, data extraction, and assessment of the methodological quality of the included publications were performed by 2 reviewers working independently. Primary outcomes of the pooled analysis were contrast volume, fluoroscopy time, radiation dose, and procedure time. 

Results: Eleven articles were identified comprising 1547 patients. Data on 140 patients satisfying the study inclusion criteria were added from the authors’ center. Mean differences (MDs) are presented with the 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: For standard EVAR, contrast volume and procedure time showed a significant reduction with an MD of −29 mL (95% CI −40.5 to −18.5, p<0.001) and −11 minutes (95% CI −21.0 to −1.8, p<0.01), respectively. For complex EVAR, significant reductions in favor of image fusion were found for contrast volume (MD −79 mL, 95% CI −105.7 to −52.4, p<0.001), fluoroscopy time (MD −14 minutes, 95% CI −24.2 to −3.5, p<0.001), and procedure time (MD −52 minutes, 95% CI −75.7 to −27.9, p<0.001). 

Conclusion: The results of this meta-analysis confirm that image fusion significantly reduces contrast volume, fluoroscopy time, and procedure time in complex EVAR but only contrast volume and procedure time for standard EVAR. Though a reduction was suggested, the radiation dose was not significantly affected by the use of fusion imaging in either standard or complex EVAR.