title: Endovascular stent grafting for thoracic aneurysms in Jehovah's Witnesses: report of three cases.
abstract: There are few published reports on endovascular stent grafting for thoracic aneurysms in Jehovah's Witnesses. Between 2001 and 2003, we performed endovascular stent grafting for a thoracic aneurysm in three patients of the Jehovah's Witness faith. Two patients had a thoracic aortic aneurysm and one had a chronic type-B dissection. The stent graft was constructed from a self-expanding Z-stent and thin-walled woven polyester fabric. None of the patients required perioperative blood transfusion, there was no postoperative endoleak, and all recovered uneventfully and were discharged from hospital. Thus, stent-graft repair of thoracic aneurysms in Jehovah's Witnesses is feasible and can be achieved without the need for blood transfusion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, S 1, W 16, Chou-ku, Sapporo, 060-8543, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshikazu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hachiro
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurimoto
authors.forename: Kiyofumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Morishita
authors.forename: Joji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fukada
authors.forename: Yasuaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujisawa
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kawaharada
authors.forename: Tomio
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D000075202:Contraindications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015607:Stents