Open distal anastomosis in retrograde cerebral perfusion for repair of ascending aortic dissection

Background. In patients with aortic dissection, a patent distal false lumen at long-term follow-up leads to complications. We investigated the feasibility of performing an open distal anastomosis using retrograde cerebral perfusion. Methods. Over a 10-year period, 41 patients with acute type A aortic dissection underwent 43 surgical repairs. In 1991, an open distal anastomosis using retrograde cerebral perfusion (group 2) was introduced to replace the standard aortic cross-clamp method (group 1). The mean retrograde cerebral perfusion time was 47.3 minutes (range, 22 to 67 minutes), and there were no neurologic sequelae in surviving patients. Results. The operative mortality rate was 18.5% in group 1 and 18.7% in group 2. At long-term follow-up, dilatation of the false lumen (more than 50 mm in diameter) occurred in 9 of 18 patients (50%) in group 1, and 2 patients died of aortic rupture. There were no deaths in group 2, and dilatation of the distal false lumen occurred in only 15.4% of patients (p < 0.05). Conclusions. The use of retrograde cerebral perfusion in patients with acute aortic dissection provides adequate time to perform a safe, open, distal anastomosis, and could decrease significantly the rate of enlarged, patent, false lumina.