Does hypothermic circulatory arrest or prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass time affect early outcome in reoperative aortic surgery?
OBJECTIVE
Prolonged cardio-pulmonary bypass (CPB) time, usually necessary for reoperations, is known to increase mortality in coronary bypass procedures and aortic reoperations. We investigated if prolonged CPB time and arch reconstruction in reoperations of the thoracic aorta affect in-hospital outcome.


METHODS
Twenty-nine patients underwent reoperations on the thoracic aorta. The reoperations performed were aortic root replacement with composite graft without aortic arch involvement in ten patients, isolated ascending aorta replacement in six patients, aortic arch replacement as a primary procedure in two patients, and aortic arch in conjunction with ascending or descending aorta replacement in 11 patients.


RESULTS
Fourteen patients had aortic reoperation with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) and 15 without DHCA. The in-hospital mortality rate was 13.8%. The use deep hypothermic circulatory arrest or CPB time did not affect early outcome. Previous coronary artery bypass procedure was independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. Seven patients required re-exploration for bleeding. One patient suffered from stroke and finally five patients had prolonged ventilation, two requiring tracheostomy. There have been no deaths in the follow-up period. None of the patients has required repeat surgical intervention on the heart or the aorta.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of DHCA or prolonged CPB time do not affect early outcome in reoperations of the thoracic aorta.
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Athens School of Medicine, "Attikon" Hospital Center, Athens, Greece.
T P
TP
Chamogeorgakis
C E
CE
Anagnostopoulos
G
G
Kostopanagiotou
D C
DC
Angouras
I K
IK
Toumpoulis
S
S
Matiatou
M C
MC
Georgiannakis
D
D
Mallios
C K
CK
Rokkas
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D050792:Circulatory Arrest, Deep Hypothermia Induced / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000401:mortality; D006115:Greece; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult