[Early and long-term outcome for surgical treatment of aortic arch aneurysm]

This study was undertaken to determine the factors that influence the final outcome after the operation of aortic arch aneurysm. Sixty-six patients, the median age was 72 years (range 44 to 90), were operated at our hospital during the 16-year period between 1985 and 2001. Preoperative complications included cardiac in 6 and vascular in 21, ruptured in 13, myocardial ischemia in 21 and stroke in 14. The distal hemiarch (11) and total arch replacement with or without ascending aorta and descending aorta (46) and proximal hemiarch with or without valve operations (7) and other procedures were performed mainly using cardio-pulmonary bypass with moderate deep hypothermia and selective cerebral perfusion. The in-hospital mortality were 6 (9%) and 14 (23%) late deaths occurred. One out of 14 was aneurysm related death. The survival rates were 81% at 1 year and 59% at 5 years. The multivariably determined risk factors for early death and postoperative neurological dysfunction were as follows (p < 0.05) cardiac anoxic arrest time, intubation time and gender.