Complete replacement of the ascending aorta and the aortic valve with coronary reimplantation.

In 6 patients with cystic medial necrosis of the ascending aorta and the aortic root complete elective replacement of these structures with coronary reimplantation was performed. Two patients died from postoperative left ventricular failure, 4 patients survived and were hemodynamically unaffected at follow-up. Also the heart size in these patients decreased postoperatively. Survival seemed mainly related to the degree of preoperative cardiac failure and cardiomegaly.