The modified chimney technique with a thoracic aortic stent graft to preserve the blood flow of the left common carotid artery for treating descending thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection.
While thoracic endovascular aortic repair is an effective treatment option for descending thoracic aorta pathology, it does have limitations. The main limitation is related to the anatomical difficulties when disease involves the aortic arch. A fenestrated, branched aortic stent graft and hybrid operation has been introduced to overcome this limitation, but it is a custom-made device and is time consuming to manufacture. Furthermore, these devices cannot be used in an emergency setting. We report two patients with massive descending thoracic aortic aneurysm and ruptured aortic dissection very near the aortic arch who underwent a procedure which we named the modified chimney technique. The modified chimney technique can be used as a treatment option in such an emergency situation or as a rescue procedure when aortic pathology is involved near the supra-aortic vessels.
Department of Cardiology, Pusan National University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea.
Kyung Nam
KN
Lee
Han Cheol
HC
Lee
Jin Sup
JS
Park
Bo Won
BW
Kim
Kwang Soo
KS
Cha
Sang-Pil
SP
Kim
Chung Won
CW
Lee
Hae Kyu
HK
Kim