Objective To study the clinical characteristics, therapy strategies and the outcomes of female patients with acute aortic dissection during late pregnancy and puerperal period. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 7 patients with acute aortic dissection during late pregnancy and puerperal period in Shanghai Changhai Hospital between August 2012 and June 2017. Five of the 7 patients were late stage pregnancy, 2 were puerperal period (1 at the postpartum night, 1 in 18 days after delivery). There were 6 patients of Stanford type A aortic dissection (85.7%), and 1 patient of type B aortic dissection (14.3%). The age of the patients ranged from 26 to 34 (30.8±3.1) years. Cardiac ultrasonography of patients with type A showed that the maximum diameter of the ascending aortas was 4.2–5.7 (4.7±0.6) cm, of which 2 patients were aneurysm of aortic sinus, 3 patients were with Marfan syndrome. Bentall procedure was conducted in 1 patient, Bentall+Sun’s surgery in 2 patients, ascending aorta replacement+Sun’s+coronary artery bypass grafting surgery in 1 patient, aortic root remodeling+ascending aorta replacement+Sun’s surgery in 2 patients. One patient with Stanford type B acute aortic dissection was performed with thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) after cesarean section. Results Aortic blocking time ranged from 51 to 129 (85.5±22.9) min. Cardiopulmonary bypass time was 75–196 (159.0±44.0) min. Moderate hypothermic circulation arrest with selective cerebral perfusion time was 20–30 (23.8±3.5) min. All maternal and fetuses survived. The infant whose mother received aortic repair in early stage and then received cesarean section was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Maternal and fetuses were followed up for 9 months to 4 years. During the follow up period, all the fetuses grew well except the cerebral palsy one, and all maternal recovered well. The patient who received aortic repair in the early stage, had a sigmoid rupture during cesarean section and was treated with sigmoid colostomy. Another patient with Stanford type A dissection was diagnosed as left renal vein entrapment syndrome after 2 years. Conclusion Type A aortic dissection is more common in late pregnancy and puerperal patients. And Marfan syndrome is a high-risk factor for acute aortic dissection in pregnancy women. Early and appropriate surgical treatment strategy based on the type of aortic dissection and gestational age are the key points to achieve good outcomes both for maternal and fetus.
ObjectivesTo explore the predictive value of platelet count at admission for long-term prognosis in patients with type B acute aortic dissection (AAD) undergoing endovascular therapy (EVT). MethodsWe investigated 131 consecutive patients with type B AAD after EVT in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January to December 2012. The patients’ basic clinical data, blood test results, major adverse cardiovascular events, and in-hospital and out-hospital survival status were collected. According to the tri-sectional quantiles of platelet counts, the patients were divided into three groups. Chi-square test was used to analyze the correlation between platelet count and hospital complications. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were used to analyze the relationship between platelet count and survival in patients with type B AAD. The primary endpoint was all-cause death. ResultsThe overall in-hospital mortality of the 131 patients was 9.9%, and the mortality was 16.0% by the end of the follow-up, the median length of which was 2.1 years. There were 44 cases in T1 group (platelet count >200×10 9/L), 44 cases in T2 group [platelet count (155–200)×109/L], and 43 cases in T3 group [platelet count ≤155×109/L]. The mortality in T3 group (30.2%) was higher than that in T1 group (4.5%) and T2 group (13.6%) (P=0.004). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed that the cumulative survival rate of T3 group was significantly lower than that of T1 group and T2 group (69.8% vs. 95.5%, χ2=10.165, P=0.001; 69.8% vs. 86.4%, χ2=5.174, P=0.037). Cox multivariate analysis showed that age [hazard ratio (HR)=1.043, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.009, 1.079), P=0.013], heart rate [HR=1.030, 95%CI (1.004, 1.058), P=0.024], and platelet count [HR=6.011, 95%CI (1.319, 27.391), P=0.020] were independent risk factors for mortality. Older age, rapid heart rate, and lower platelet count would increase the risk of death. ConclusionPlatelet count may be an independent factor that affects the prognosis of patients with type B AAD after EVT, and a low platelet count at admission increases the risk of death.
Objective To evaluate the significance of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) as a predictor of in-hospital mortality in patients with acute aortic dissection(AAD). Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of the clinical data of 445 AAD patients who were admitted to the Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University and the Changsha Central Hospital from January 2014 to December 2017 within a time interval of ≤14 days from the onset of symptoms to hospital admission, including 353 males and 92 females with the age of 45-61 years. LDH levels were measured on admission and the endpoint was the all-cause mortality during hospitalization. Results During hospitalization, 86 patients died and 359 patients survived. Increased level of LDH was found in non-survivors compared with that in the survived [269.50 (220.57, 362.58) U/L vs. 238.00 (191.25, 289.15) U/L, P<0.001]. A nonlinear relationship between LDH levels and in-hospital mortality was observed. Using multivariable logistic analysis, we found that LDH was an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality in the patients with AAD [OR=1.002, 95% CI (1.001 to 1.014), P=0.006]. Furthermore, using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, we observed that the best threshold of LDH level was 280.70 U/L, and the area under the curve was 0.624 (95% CI 0.556 to 0.689). Conclusion LDH level on admission is an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality in patients with AAD.