FEVAR Procedure: Fenestrated Endovascular Repair

Pain in your chest, belly, or back. Pulsing feelings in your belly. Feeling like you’ll pass out. If you're living with an aortic aneurysm, you're hoping for relief from these symptoms. You're probably worried about a rupture. You'll likely need surgery. And that can mean facing a long recovery.

If your aortic aneurysm is near your kidneys, the experts at UVA Health offer a special procedure called fenestrated endovascular aneurysm repair (FEVAR).

Care You Can't Get Everywhere

We’re one of the few hospitals in the country where you can get FEVAR. Also sometimes called branched endovascular aortic repair (BEVAR), it lets surgeons fix your aortic aneurysm without big cuts to your body. That means:

• A shorter hospital stay than open surgery (1-2 days)
• Faster recovery
• Smaller cuts & smaller scars
• Less chance of complications

In fact, Becker’s Hospital Review named UVA Health’s Heart & Vascular Center to its 2023 list of 100 hospitals and health systems with great heart programs.

See other awards and recognition for our heart care.

Getting FEVAR at UVA Health

A FEVAR procedure uses a special tube called an aortic stent-graft. The stent-graft is put inside your aorta where the aneurysm is growing. It acts as a support for the wall of your aorta. It helps keep your aneurysm from getting bigger or tearing.

A FEVAR stent-graft is custom-made for your aorta. It has holes in the side of it. These holes line up with other arteries that branch off of your aorta. The holes let blood flow from the aorta into those branching arteries. They're good for aortic aneurysms near your kidneys or in other places where you have branching arteries.

First Steps

We'll use high-tech imaging to find and measure your aneurysm. We use those pictures and information about your aneurysm to make your custom stent-graft.

FEVAR Procedure

To put it in place, we only use a small cut by your groin. Through there, we put a small, flexible tube into a blood vessel (endovascular). We send the stent-graft through the tube and put it in place that way (it's a minimally invasive procedure). 

The procedure usually takes only a few hours. You can usually leave the hospital after 1 or 2 days.

After the procedure, you can quickly get back to your usual activities. We'll have check-ins with you over the next weeks and months to make sure the stent-graft is working.