Background: Ascending aorta or hemi-arch repair are common in the acute phase of type A dissection. Postdissection aneurysms can develop with antegrade perfusion of the false lumen in the dissected aortic arch and require reoperation.
Methods: From 2012 to 2018, we reoperated nine patients with postdissection aneurysms using a hybrid technique without cardiopulmonary bypass. The patients had a EuroSCORE II of 13% and a logistic EuroSCORE I of 45% and were not candidates for frozen elephant trunk surgery. The median interval since the acute ascending repair was 184 (92; 528) days. All patients were treated by median resternotomy, ascending to carotid bypass on a partially clamped ascending graft, and transfemoral endovascular repair with a Relay NBS (nonbare stent) or conformable Gore C-TAG stent graft.
Results: Technical success was achieved in all cases. Mean follow-up was 405 (220; 672) days. There was no disabling stroke, endoleak, paraplegia, in-hospital, or late mortality. In all patients, the false lumen was completely thrombosed at the aortic arch level with a median aneurysm shrinkage of 13 mm in the distal arch. There was no bird beak or stent graft migration. Distal stent-induced new entry was observed in one case. Reinterventions were not necessary due to diameter stability.
Conclusion: Complete debranching with transfemoral thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair showed encouraging results in patients with relevant comorbidities. The used stent grafts performed well in the mid-term follow-up period with no endoleaks or migration.
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.