Objectives: The selection of arterial cannulation site is an important decision to avoid cerebral complication for total arch replacement(TAR). We report the surgical outcome of TAR using bilateral axillary artery perfusion in our hospital.
Methods: Between January 2012 and June 2020, 97 patients who underwent elective TAR for atherosclerotic aneurysms were enrolled in this study. Among them, bilateral axillary artery perfusion was used for 81 patients, and frozen elephant trunk( FET) procedure were used for 34 patients. In the case of FET procedure, translocated TAR was performed with distal anastomosis between the left common carotid artery and the left subclavian artery. The left subclavian artery was reconstructed by rerouting the graft used for the left axillary artery perfusion.
Results: There were no perioperative cerebral infarction and no hospital deaths. The mean operation time was 420 minutes. Compared to the conventional elephant trunk method, the FET method significantly reduced the operation time to 381 minutes.
Conclusions: Bilateral axillary artery perfusion could contribute to reduce the cerebral infarction in TAR and facilitate the FET procedure.