[Surgical treatment of type A aortic dissection based on the location of the entry]

From 1987 to February of 1994, 42 cases of acute aortic dissection and 31 cases of chronic dissection have been operated in out institution. Our surgical technique for the treatment of aortic dissection is a tubular graft replacement following a resection of the segment of aorta containing the intimal tear. The location of the entry was, therefore, important to determine the extension of graft replacement and to select the circulatory support method during operation. 52%, 33% and 14% of cases in acute aortic dissection had entries in ascending, arch and descending aorta, respectively. Entries of 52%, 32% and 16% of cases in chronic dissection located in ascending, arch and descending aorta, respectively. In cases with the entry in ascending aorta, ascending aorta and partial aortic arch replacement was performed in 12 and 10, respectively, for acute dissection, whereas more extensive graft replacement procedure was selected for chronic dissection including complete arch replacement in three cases and two of them had concomitant Bentall type operation. Likewise, with the entry in aortic arch, partial arch replacement was performed more often in 9 than complete arch replacement in 5 for acute dissection, on the other hand, complete arch replacement procedure tended to be preferable in 6 cases for chronic dissection. For retrograde dissection with the entry in descending aorta, ascending aorta and complete arch replacement were performed in 4 and 6 cases, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)