title: Aortic arch aneurysms: surgical results and follow up in 56 patients.
abstract: From January 1989 to December 1994, 56 patients, 43 male and 13 female, mean age 61.21 +/- 10.05 years, underwent surgical procedures on the aortic arch at our institution. Forty-six patients underwent emergency or urgent operations, fourty-four of them presented acute aortic dissections involving the aortic arch. All operations were performed in cardiopulmonary by-pass, 39 operations in deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, 10 in deep hypothermic circulatory arrest and hypothermic retrograde cerebral perfusion. The overall hospital mortality was 17.9% (10 patients). The main causes of hospital mortality were: multiorgan failure (3 patients) and major neurological damage (2 patients). In the group of patients that underwent hypothermic retrograde cerebral perfusion there was no major neurological damage. In the follow up there were no deaths and 4 reoperations related to the aortic pathology. The cerebral protection represents the main problem in the aortic arch surgery. The deep hypothermic circulatory arrest is an effective method to reduce the cerebral and visceral ischemia, in particular in acute dissection; nevertheless this method leads to more bleeding complications and lengthening of the cardiopulmonary bypass in time. In our experience, the hypothermic retrograde cerebral perfusion associated with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest appears to be a useful method to prevent cerebral damage. However this procedure needs further investigation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Caimmi
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Zanetti
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Castenetto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Di Rosa
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Trucano
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: di Summa
mesh_terms: D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000517:prevention & control; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D004630:Emergencies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006324:Heart Arrest, Induced; D006801:Humans; D007036:Hypothermia, Induced; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome