Surgery for dissecting aneurysms of the aortic arch. “Elephant trunk” technique

pp 150-153

Abstract

Between february 1989 and september 1992, six patients were operated of dissecting hematomas of aortic arch with "Elephant Trunk" technique. Five patients were male and one female, the average age was 62 years. All of them had the dissection between carotid and left subclavian. All survived the operation time. One patient died at sixth day of the surgery by a ventricular fibrillation. We had no complications relationed with this technique. One patient was reoperated at 7 months of abdominal aortic aneurism, dieying in the postoperative time for sepsis. The rest of the patients are asymptomatics at 20 months average of the surgery. This technique offers an alternative for reconstruction in one, two, or three surgical stages, if it's necessary. Just for a relative simplicity and low morbidity, we think that this technique is a good option for the treatment of this pathology.