Frozen Elephant Trunk for Acute Type A Dissection: Is Risk from Procedure or Patient Characteristics?

The initial goal of acute Type A aortic dissection (ATAAD) repair remains to get the patient off the table safely. More extensive repair is being pushed at the index operation with the frozen elephant trunk (FET) operation, but outcomes are suggested to be worse. However, we hypothesize that the risk associated with the FET in ATAAD is from the patient presenting factors rather than the operation itself.

A retrospective review of a single institution prospective database from 2015 to 2021 was performed. Two cohorts were created based on the indication for FET: evidence of radiographic malperfusion (n = 44) or clinical malperfusion (n = 31). Data were analyzed for preoperative characteristics, intraoperative characteristics, and postoperative outcomes. Statistical univariate analysis was performed with chi-square analysis and t-tests with significance determined at an alpha level of 0.05.

Preoperative characteristics were similar in each group, independent of malperfusion markers. The intraoperative characteristics were similar, except the clinical malperfusion group had more packed red blood cells and cryoprecipitate given. The clinical malperfusion group had longer intensive care unit length of stay (p < 0.001), more postoperative strokes (p < 0.001), more reoperations (p <0.0001), and higher mortality rate (p = 0.0003).

These data suggest that clinical malperfusion increases the risk of major complications and death. However, full arch replacement with FET in the absence of clinical malperfusion does not appear to add risk to the operation for ATAAD. Patients with increased risk of distal degeneration should be considered for more aggressive replacement to avoid subsequent arch replacement.