Straight deep hypothermic arrest: experience in 394 patients supports its effectiveness as a sole means of brain preservation.
BACKGROUND
The three methods of brain preservation for aortic arch surgery--straight deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) without perfusion adjuncts, retrograde cerebral perfusion, and antegrade cerebral perfusion--remain controversial. Patients in this report underwent surgery solely with DHCA.


METHODS
Straight DHCA at 19 degrees C was used in 394 patients (267 males, 127 females) during a 10-year period. Mean age was 61.3 years (range, 15 to 88 years). Eighty-seven cases (22.1%) were urgent or emergencies. Thirty-eight (9.6%) were performed for descending or thoracoabdominal pathology and the rest for ascending/arch (102 hemiarch, 49 total arch). Ninety-one patients (23.1%) had dissections. The head was packed in ice. No barbiturate coma was used.


RESULTS
DHCA lasted a mean of 31.0 minutes (range, 10 to 66 minutes). Reexploration for bleeding was required in 4.5% (18/394). Overall mortality was 6.3% (25/394). Mortality was 3.6% (11/307) for elective cases and 16% (14/87) for emergency cases. The stroke rate was 4.8% (19/394). The seizure rate was 3.1% (12/394). Forty-five patients with high professional cognitive demands (MD, PhD, attorney, etc) performed without detriment postoperatively. Among patients with DHCA exceeding 40 minutes, the stroke rate was 13.1% (8/61); a neuroradiologist's review of brain computed tomography scans found 62.5% of these strokes (5/8) to be embolic and 37.5% (3/8) hypoperfusion related. By multivariable logistic regression, emergency operation and descending location increased morbidity and mortality.


CONCLUSIONS
Straight DHCA without adjunctive perfusion suffices as a sole means of cerebral protection. Stroke and seizure rates are low. Cognitive function, by clinical assessment, is excellent. Especially for straightforward ascending/arch reconstructions, there is little need for the added complexity of brain perfusion strategies.
Gega
Arjet
A
Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510, USA.
Rizzo
John A
JA
Johnson
Michele H
MH
Tranquilli
Maryann
M
Farkas
Emily A
EA
Elefteriades
John A
JA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006324:Heart Arrest, Induced; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012640:Seizures / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors