The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 76, 390-396, Copyright © 1978 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Use of a ringed intraluminal graft in the surgical treatment of dissecting aneurysms of the thoracic aorta. A new technique
SG Ablaza, SC Ghosh and VP Grana
An intraluminal graft made of woven tubular Dacron with cloth-covered
grooved rings at both ends is used to repair dissecting aneurysms of the
thoracic aorta. Six consecutive white male patients ranging in age from 31
to 69 years with an average age of 55 years were operated upon with the use
of this graft. Three patients had a dissecting aneurysm of the ascending
aorta and three others had a dissecting aneurysm of the descending aorta.
Total cardiopulmonary bypass was utilized in repairing dissecting aneurysms
of the ascending aorta and left heart bypass was used in patients with
dissecting aneurymsms of the descending aorta. The basic technique consists
in inserting the whole ringed graft into the true lumen of the dissected
aorta and circumferentially ligating the aorta against the groove in the
rings. The proximal ring of the graft effectively stabilized the flail
aortic valve in two patients with aortic regurgitation associated with
dissection of the ascending aorta. There were no hospital deaths. All
patients are doing well 1 year, 1 month to 2 years, 8 months after the
operation.
