Objective To evaluate the cardiac protection function of high thoracic epidural anesthesia (HTEA) for patients with acute coronary syndrome or heart failure. Methods A literature search was conducted with computerized database on PubMed, EBSCO, Springer, Ovid, and CNKI from 1990 to May 2010. Further searches for articles were conducted by checking all references describing cardiac protection studies with HTEA. All included articles were assessed and data were extracted according to the standard of Cochrane review. The homogeneous studies were pooled using RevMan 4.2.10 software. Results A total of 28 articles involving 1 041 patients were included. The results of meta-analyses showed that, a) cardiac function: HTEA could significantly improve ejection fraction of left ventricle (WMD= – 10.28, 95%CI – 14.14 to – 6.43) and cardiac output (WMD= – 1.26, 95%CI – 1.63 to – 0.89), contract left ventricular diastolic dimension (WMD= 5.02, 95%CI 3.72 to 6.32), increase E peak (WMD= – 17.50, 95%CI – 29.40 to – 5.59) and decrease A peak (WMD= 27.36, 95%CI 24.46 to 30.26); b) ischemic degree for patients with heart failure: the change of NST-T (WMD= 1.45, 95%CI 1.12 to 1.78) and ∑ST-T (WMD= 1.02, 95%CI 0.78 to 1.26) got significantly decreased after HTEA; c) ischemic degree for patients with acute coronary syndrome: HTEA could obviously lessen the times (WMD= 4.24, 95%CI 0.48 to 8.00) and duration (WMD= 23.29, 95%CI 4.66 to 42.11) of myocardial ischemia, decrease the times of heart attack (WMD= 3.44, 95%CI 0.92 to 5.97), and decrease the change of NST-T (WMD= 1.10, 95%CI 0.84 to 1.36) and ∑ST-T (WMD= 1.33, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.65); d) hemodynamic change for patients with acute coronary syndrome: HTEA could obviously decrease heart beat (WMD= 8.44, 95%CI 3.81 to 13.07) and systolic arterial pressure (WMD= 2.07, 95%CI 0.81 to 3.34), but not decrease the diastolic blood pressure (WMD= 2.06, 95%CI – 0.52 to 4.64) so as to avoid influencing the infusion of coronary artery; and e) influence on Q-T interval dispersion: HTEA could significantly decrease Q-Td (WMD= 9.51, 95%CI 4.74 to 14.27), Q-Tcd (WMD= 11.82, 95%CI 5.55 to 18.09), and J-Td (WMD= 9.04, 95%CI 2.30 to 15.79). Conclusions High thoracic epidural anesthesia can obviously improve the systolic and diastolic function of left ventricle, decrease the heart beat and stabilize hemodynamic change, lessen the times and duration for myocardial ischemia, reserve the ST segment change, contract Q-T interval dispersion, which has to be further proved with more high quality studies.
Objective To summarize our experience and the early and midterm outcomes of stented elephant trunk procedure for right-sided aortic arch (RAA) with Kommerell's diverticulum (KD). Methods From April 2013 to July 2020, patients with RAA and KD who underwent stented elephant trunk procedure at our center were collected. Surgery was performed under moderate hypothermic circulatory arrest combined with selective antegrade cerebral perfusion via median sternotomy. Results A total of 8 patients were included, including 7 males and 1 female with a mean age of 51.88±9.61 years. All patients had an aneurysmal KD and aberrant left subclavian artery. Preoperative comorbidities included acute Stanford type B aortic dissection in 1 patient, aortic arch pseudoaneurysm in 1 patient, acute type B intramural hematoma in 2 patients, and coronary artery disease in 1 patient. Concomitant procedures included reconstruction of the left subclavian artery in all patients and coronary artery bypass grafting in 1 patient. The mean time of operation, cardiopulmonary bypass, aortic cross-clamping, and selective cerebral perfusion was 6.25±1.16 h, 157.75±40.07 min, 77.75±33.10 min, and 28.50±5.55 min, respectively. No intraoperative death occurred. There was 1 in-hospital death. Follow-up was completed in all patients with a mean period of 3.58±2.08 years. No late death occurred. A persistent anastomotic leak of the proximal arch was detected in 1 patient, but reintervention was not performed because neither aortic dilatation nor symptoms of tracheal and esophageal compression were observed during the follow-up. The remaining 6 patients showed positive aortic remodeling with complete thrombosis of the aneurysmal KD, and neither aortic event nor tracheal and esophageal compression occurred. Conclusion Stented elephant trunk procedure is a safe and feasible technique for selected patients with RAA and KD, which can achieve favorable early and midterm outcomes.