Use of saphenous vein to reimplant intercostal arteries during thoraco-abdominal aortic replacement

Spinal cord ischemia (SCI) is a major debilitating complication of thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA) repair, even in experienced centers. Several strategies are employed to reduce the incidence of SCI and the resultant paraplegia, yet the optimum method is unknown. We describe our experience of using the reversed saphenous vein graft (RSVG) as a conduit to reimplant the intercostal arteries (ICAs). We aimed to assess the incidence of SCI when using RSVG in TAAA repair. Eight consecutive patients who underwent elective surgical replacement of the thoraco-abdominal aorta were studied. The mean age of our patients was 48.9 ± 12.1 years with 87.5% being males. A mean of 3.25 ICAs were reimplanted in each patient. No patient developed postoperative SCI or wound complications related to saphenous vein (SV) harvesting. RSVG patency at 3 months was 84.61%. Though the long-term results of this technique are still unknown, this technique is a beneficial and handy alternative without compromising the blood flow to the ICAs.