title: The frozen elephant trunk: an interesting hybrid endovascular-surgical technique to treat complex pathologies of the thoracic aorta.
abstract: The treatment of complex aortic pathologies involving the ascending aorta, the aortic arch, and the descending aorta remains a challenging issue in aortic surgery. The frozen elephant trunk procedure effectively combines surgical and interventional technologies in the treatment of extensive aortic aneurysms and dissections. We present two patients with complex aortic lesions involving all three segments of the thoracic aorta. The device used in our series is the new E-vita open hybrid prosthesis consisting of a proximal woven polyester tube and a distal self-expandable nitinol stent graft, which can be delivered antegrade into the descending aorta.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Florian S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Schoenhoff
authors.forename: Juerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schmidli
authors.forename: Friedrich S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Eckstein
authors.forename: Pascal A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Berdat
authors.forename: Franz F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Immer
authors.forename: Thierry P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Carrel
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D015607:Stents; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; C013616:nitinol