Total arch replacement with long elephant trunk anastomosed at the base of the innominate artery: a single-centre longitudinal experience.

OBJECTIVE: Total arch replacement, with a long elephant trunk (ET) anastomosed at the base of the innominate artery using an undersized graft, is performed for a variety of arch aneurysms. We investigated the long-term clinical outcomes of this procedure, as well as its long-term effectiveness for preventing retrograde flow into the aneurysm and further dilation of the descending aorta.

METHODS: We treated 127 consecutive patients with an arch aneurysm, who were divided into two groups according to the diameter of the descending aorta at the Th6-Th8 thoracic vertebral level: 35 mm or less (Single-ET, n = 94) and >35 mm (Staged-ET, n = 33). The graft diameter was undersized by 10-20% of the distal aortic diameter. ET length was determined by preoperative computed tomography (CT) to locate the distal end at Th6-Th8. Thrombosis around the ET and the descending aorta diameter around the distal end of the ET were evaluated using CT.

RESULTS: Two patients (1.6%) died within 30 days, while seven (5.5%) died in the hospital, three (2.4%) had a new stroke, three (2.4%) had permanent paraplegia and one (0.8%) had paraparesis. CT demonstrated complete thrombosis of the perigraft space around the ET in 81 patients (86%) in the Single-ET group and 11 (33%) in the Staged-ET group within 1 month after surgery, but not in the remaining 35 patients. Twenty-seven of the 35 patients without complete thrombosis underwent a subsequent second-stage operation. In those, the descending aorta showed no further dilation around the distal end of the ET, while new-onset perigraft perfusion occurred in two patients in the Single-ET group at 14 and 126 months, respectively. Overall survival was 89, 86, 78 and 74% at 1, 3, 5 and 7 years, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Our operative strategy for extensive thoracic aortic aneurysms using a long ET technique yielded satisfactory short- and long-term outcomes.