Objective To analyze the etiologies, surgical treatment and outcomes of retrograde type A aortic dissection (RTAD) after thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for Stanford type B aortic dissection. Methods The clinical data of patients with RTAD after TEVAR for Stanford type B aortic dissection receiving operations in Changhai Hospital from March 2014 to August 2018 were analyzed. All patients were followed-up by clinic interview or telephone. Results A total of 16 patients were enrolled, including 13 males and 3 females with a mean age of 49.1±12.2 years. The main symptoms of RTAD were chest pain in 12 patients, headache in 1 patient, conscious disturbance in 1 patient, and asymptomatic in 2 patients. All the 16 patients received total arch replacement with the frozen elephant trunk technique. Bentall procedure was used in 2 patients, aortic root plasticity in 10 patients and aortic valve replacement in 1 patient. The primary tear in 10 patients was located in the area which were anchored by bare mental stent, and in the other 6 patients it was located in the anterior part of ascending aorta. The mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 152.2±29.4 min, aortic cross-clamping time was 93.6±27.8 min and selective cerebral perfusion time was 29.8±8.3 min. There was no death in hospital or within postoperative 30 days. The follow-up period was 32-85 (57.4±18.3) months. No death occurred during the follow-up period. One patient underwent TEVAR again 3 years after this operation and had an uneventful survival. Conclusion Total arch replacement with the frozen elephant trunk technique is a suitable strategy for the management of RTAD after TEVAR for Stanford type B aortic dissection.
ObjectiveTo assess whether expanding the landing zone of frozen elephant trunk (FET) increases the risk of spinal cord injury in patients with acute type A aortic dissection. MethodsPatients with acute type A aortic dissection who were treated in Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital from 2017 to 2020 were collected. They were divided into two groups according to the landing zone of FET by the image diagnosis of postoperative chest X-ray or total aorta CT angiography, including a Th9 group which defined as below the eighth thoracic vertebral level, and a Th8 group which was defined as above or equal to the eighth thoracic vertebral level. Using the propensity score matching (PSM) method, the preoperative and intraoperative data of two groups were matched with a 1∶2 ratio. The prognosis of the two groups after PSM was analyzed. Results Before PSM, 573 patients were collected, including 58 patients in the Th9 group and 515 patients in the Th8 group. After PSM, 174 patients were collected, including 58 patients in the Th9 group (46 males and 12 females, with an average age of 47.91±9.92 years), and 116 patients in the Th8 group (93 males and 23 females, with an average age of 48.01±9.53 years). There were 8 patients of postoperative spinal cord injury in the two groups after PSM, including 5 (4.31%) patients in the Th8 group and 3 (5.17%) patients in the Th9 group (P=0.738). In the Th8 group, 2 patients had postoperative transient paresis and recovered spontaneously after symptomatic treatment, and 1 patient had postoperative paraplegia with cerebrospinal fluid drainage. After 3 days, the muscle strength of both lower limbs gradually recovered after treatment. There was no statistical difference in complications between the two groups (P＞0.05). ConclusionExpanding the landing zone of FET does not increase the risk of spinal cord injury in patients with acute type A aortic dissection. However, the sample size is limited, and in the future, multicenter large-scale sample size studies are still needed for verification
Objective To investigate the correlation between D-dimer level within 2 hours on admission and early in-hospital major adverse events (MAEs) in patients with acute type A aortic dissection undergoing arch replacement and the frozen elephant trunk (FET) implantation. Methods The patients with acute type A aortic dissection undergoing arch replacement and the FET implantation, who hospitalized in our hospital from September 2017 to December 2022, were included in this retrospective study. Grouping based on the occurrence of in-hospital major adverse events (MAEs) after total arch replacement and FET implantation, with no in-hospital MAEs as a control group and in-hospital MAEs as an observation group. The perioperative data were compared between the two groups. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to investigate the risk factors for MAEs (in-hospital mortality, gastrointestinal bleeding, paraplegia, acute kidney failure, reopening the chest, low cardiac output syndrome, cerebrovascular accident, respiratory insufficiency, multiple organ dysfunctionsyndrome, gastrointestinal bleeding, and severe infection). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate the predictive value of the prediction area under the ROC curve (AUC). Results Finally 218 patients were collected, including 157 males and 61 females with an average age of 51.54±9.79 years. There were 152 patients in the control group and 66 patients in the observation group. In-hospital mortality was 2.8% (6/218). The level of D-dimer, lactic acid, cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross-clamping time, ventilator-assisted time and ICU stay in the observation group were higher or longer than those in the control group (P=0.013). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that D-dimer (OR=1.077, 95%CI 1.020-1.137, P＜0.05) was an independent risk factor for MAEs in hospital. The level of D-dimer within 2 hours admission predicted that the AUC of MAEs in hospital was 0.83 (95%CI 0.736-0.870, P＜0.05), and the optimal critical point was 2.2 μg/mL, with sensitivity and specificity of 84.8% and 73.0%, respectively. Conclusion Increased D-dimer levels at admission are associated with early in-hospital MAEs in the patients with acute type A aortic dissection undergoing arch replacement and FET. These results may help clinicians optimize the risk evaluation and perioperative clinical management to reduce early adverse events.