[Past, present and future of thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery]

Successful replacement of the abdominal aorta with an allograft for treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysm in 1952, was a clinical start of aortic aneurysm surgery both in the western countries and in Japan. Following this success, thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery began in the first half of an era of 1950. Since then, 45 years passed. In this paper, I followed the 45 years history of thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery, look in the face of the present status and make a great help of advance in this field of surgery in the future.