Early and midterm outcomes of open stent-graft treatment for distal aortic arch aneurysm.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate early and late outcomes for open stent-graft treatment, which was introduced as a less-invasive technique for thoracic aortic aneurysm of the distal arch, and to clarify the validity of and indications for this treatment.


METHODS
We retrospectively investigated 38 patients with thoracic aortic aneurysm of the distal arch who underwent open stent-graft placement at our hospital between June 2000 and September 2006.


RESULTS
Five patients died in hospital (hospital mortality 13.2%). Age at the time of surgery and onset of postoperative paraplegia were identified as risk factors. Four patients (10.5%) had postoperative paraplegia, but no significant risk factors were seen. The size of the aneurysm was clearly reduced in 18 of the 25 patients (75.8%), in whom computed tomography was performed after discharge, and late outcomes were good. Mural thrombus thickness on the stent landing zone of <4 mm was a predictor for aneurysm shrinkage. Seven patients died during the late period, and the 5-year survival rate among hospital survivors was 80.1%.


CONCLUSIONS
Early outcomes for open stent-graft are not necessarily good, and late survival is also not excellent. Open stent-graft thus cannot be regarded as an ideal technique for all patients with distal aortic arch aneurysm. However, after aneurysm shrinkage was confirmed during the early period, late outcomes were good. Absence of thick mural thrombus on the stent landing zone may represent a good indication for open stentgraft surgery.
Yamada
Kazunori
K
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Akane Foundation, Tsuchiya General Hospital, 3-30 Nakajima-cho, Naka-ku, Hiroshima, 730-8655, Japan. kyamada-ths@umin.ac.jp
Mochizuki
Takaaki
T
Tsubota
Hideki
H
Funamoto
Masaki
M
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000209:etiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015607:Stents; D013997:Time Factors; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome