[Surgical strategy for Stanford type A aortic dissection with Marfan syndrome]

Between January 1979 and May 1996, 23 Marfan patients underwent surgeries for type A aortic dissection; 8 patients with localized type dissection and 15 with extensive type. All of the 23 patients suffered from annuloaortic ectasia (AAE) which was treated by composite graft replacement, 10 of these patients had a concomitant replacement of the aortic arch. The operative mortality rate was 8.7%, and the causes were associated with the methods of coronary artery reattachment to the graft. Of the 15 patients with the extensive type dissection, there were 11 patients who had a non-thrombotic communicating false lumen in the untreated segments of the distal dissected aorta after the first operation and from this group there were seven patients who had anastomotic leakage around the distal suture line of the graft replacement that was demonstrated by aortography. Extensive graft replacement ranging from the entire thoracic aorta to the total aorta were performed in 10 (43.5%). Late deaths occurred in three patients (13.0%) and these causes were LOS and graft infection after the second operation and prosthetic valve endcarditis 6 months after the first operation. The present data indicate that Stanford type A aortic dissection with Marfan syndrome should be undertaken on the basis of a prior achievable plan to perform an entire aortic replacement. The dissection should also be performed using a procedure which doesn't leave distal anastomotic leakage.