Complex aortic arch surgery

Cerbral Protection Strategies for Aortic Arch Surgery

Surgical therapy for aortic arch disease involves partial or complete replacement of the aortic arch with reimplantation of the great vessels while the cerebral blood flow is temporarily altered. Patients undergoing this mandatory period of circulatory arrest during arch replacement are at an increased risk for adverse neurologic outcomes, and strategies for cerebral protection must be implemen...

Cortical blindness following aortic arch surgery.

PURPOSE To report a patient with Marfan's syndrome in whom cortical blindness occurred after planned circulatory arrest during aortic arch surgery. CASE A 31-year-old man underwent aortic arch surgery because of an acute aortic dissection due to Marfan's syndrome. He noticed poor vision after surgery, although his pupillary reflexes and fundi appeared normal. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) ...

Aortic arch surgery: beyond surgical technique alone.

Yan et al. [1] need to be congratulated on forming an international aortic arch study group to improve patient outcomes after aortic arch surgery. Clinical consensus to classify the different temperatures utilized for hypothermia is obviously important; however, it does not take into account metabolic variation between patients [2] and may potentially explain variation in reported outcomes. Wit...

Alternative approaches for redo aortic arch surgery.

Received January 13, 2010; accepted for publication March 29, 2010 Address reprint requests to Salvatore Lentini, MD FESC: CardioVascular and Thoracic Department, Policlinico G. Martino Hospital, Università di Messina, Viale Gazzi, 98100 Messina, Italy. ©2010 The Editorial Committee of Annals of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. All rights reserved.

Cerebral protection during aortic arch surgery.