Which Frozen Elephant Trunk Offers the Optimal Solution? Reflections From Essen Group.

Frozen Elephant Trunk (FET) combines the advantages of open and endovascular surgery for the treatment of complex aortic arch pathologies extending into the descending aorta. At University Hospital Essen, operative skills were developed to make FET surgery safer including guidance and control of FET deployment into the descending aorta by angioscopy and facilitation of arch repair by moving the distal anastomosis to Zone 2 and more proximally. Selective whole body perfusion during the arch repair was used to improve organ protection under moderate hypothermia. Our results demonstrate acceptable mortality in this high risk patient population and reduction of postoperative morbidity in the last years. With regard to the rate of exclusion of aneurysms in the distal arch and the false lumen in acute aortic dissection, FET should be the treatment of choice in both. In chronic aortic dissection and extensive descending aortic aneurysms, FET represents a safe first stage procedure and provides an ideal docking place in the mid-descending aorta for a second endovascular or open thoracoabdominal aortic repair, if required.