Surgical treatment of aortic dissection in 60 patients

During the years 1964-82 a total of 60 patients underwent surgery for aortic dissection. Forty of them were males, with a mean age of 48.8 years (22 to 69) and 20 were females, with a mean age of 49.0 years (31 to 65). Forty-five patients were operated in an acute stage of aortic dissection and 15 patients in a chronic stage of this disease. The mortality rate of patients operated on for acute dissections was 51.1% and of patients with a chronic dissection 13.3%, the over-all hospital mortality rate being 41.7%. Cardiac and haemorrhagic complications were the commonest cause of death. Among the 35 operative survivors, there were seven late deaths (11.7%); 4 patients died of cardiovascular causes. The mean follow-up time was 6.1 years (2.7 to 13.4). Twenty-six long-term survivors were re-examined in the hospital.