title: Acute type A aortic dissection: retrograde perfusion with left superior vena cava.
abstract: Retrograde cerebral perfusion with hypothermic circulatory arrest confers additional cerebral protection during repair of type A aortic dissection. We present a 42-year-old man with acute type A aortic dissection and a persistent, left superior vena cava. Cannulation of the right and left superior vena cava is used for retrograde perfusion of both hemispheres with bilateral monitoring of electroencephalogram and somatosensory-evoked potentials during and after the hypothermic circulatory arrest interval.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, Philadelphia 19104, USA. cbridges@mail.med.upenn.edu
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Bridges
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Gorman
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Stecker
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bavaria
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory / Q000502:physiology; D006324:Heart Arrest, Induced; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D016343:Monitoring, Intraoperative; D014683:Vena Cava, Superior / Q000002:abnormalities / Q000601:surgery*