Spinal cord injury following surgery for acute traumatic rupture of the thoracic aorta.
From 1970 to 1985, 49 patients were operated for traumatic aortic rupture (TAR) in 2 university hospitals. Protection of distal ischemia was performed 31 times with a left heart bypass (LHB), 5 times with a heparin coated shunt and, 13 times using simple aortic cross-clamping combined with pharmacological vasodilatation. Total mortality was 17 out of 49, 5 during and 12 after the operation, 2 of them being directly related to systemic heparinization during LHB. In the LHB and shunt groups there was one postoperative paraplegia out of 35 patients, while 4 from the 13 patients operated without a shunt developed paraplegia. If risk factors such as long cross-clamping time, hypotension, extensive laceration of the inner curvature of the aorta, or cross-clamping of the aortic arch at a high level are anticipated, LHB or the shunt technique must be considered to avoid paraplegia. A repair without a shunting procedure should be limited to those cases in which the individual surgeon believes that he can do the operation within 30 minutes aortic cross-clamping time.
J L
JL
van Niekerk
F M
FM
Heijstraten
R J
RJ
Goris
F G
FG
Buskens
A
A
Eijgelaar
L K
LK
Lacquet
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000209:etiology; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D012421:Rupture; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000209:etiology*