title: Surgical treatment of aortic arch aneurysm combined with coronary artery stenosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We present operative results of aortic arch aneurysm associated with coronary artery stenosis, and evaluate the operative risk of graft replacement of the aortic arch and concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 1991 to December 2001, we treated 16 patients with aortic arch aneurysm and coronary artery stenosis. The patients, 3 women and 13 men (study group) ranged from 58 to 79 years of age, average 68.1 5.3 years. With the aid of deep hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass, we performed graft replacement of the aortic arch aneurysm and concomitant CABG. We bypassed 31 coronary arteries. The bypass grafts included saphenous vein (n=16), left internal thoracic artery (n=4), right internal thoracic artery (n=1), right gastroepiploic artery (n=5) and inferior epigastric artery (n=2). The number of bypassed coronary arteries per patient ranged from 1 to 3, average 2.1 0.8/patient. A comparative study was performed between the study group and a control group of patients (n=39) who had undergone only graft replacement of the aortic arch.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding: operation time, cardiopulmonary bypass time, cardiac arrest time, intraoperative bleeding volume, and early mortality rate. However, in the patients (n=4) of the study group who had undergone total arch graft replacement with three vessel CABG, the cardiopulmonary bypass time was significantly longer than that of the patients in the control group who underwent total arch graft replacement (n=19, P<0.05). Two of the 16 study group patients died in the early postoperative period, resulting in 12.5% early mortality rate. In the control group, four of 39 patients (10.3%) died in the early postoperative period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CABG combined with graft replacement of the aortic arch does not increase operative risk when the number of bypassed vessels is within two vessels, but may increase risk when three or more vessels are bypassed.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuniyoshi
authors.forename: Kageharu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koja
authors.forename: Kazufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyagi
authors.forename: Tooru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uezu
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yamashiro
authors.forename: Katuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arakaki
authors.forename: Katuhito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mabuni
authors.forename: Shigenobu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senaha
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation; D015897:Comorbidity; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006324:Heart Arrest, Induced; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged