[Perioperative morbidity and mortality in surgery for dissecting aneurysm of the ascending aorta].

OBJECTIVE: To describe complications and mortality in patients diagnosed of Stanford's type A (Daily) dissection of the ascending aorta requiring circulatory arrest for emergency placement of an aortic graft.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective study of 21 patients treated between December 1992 and November 1997.

RESULTS: Hypertension was the disease most often associated with the diagnosis (in 8 of the 21 patients). Preoperative mortality was 9.5% (2 of the 21 patients), no deaths occurred in the operating room and postoperative mortality was 15.8% (3 of the 19 patients who underwent surgery). Durations in mean time (SD) in minutes were as follows: anesthesia-surgery 437.9 (92), extracorporeal circulation 192.5 (47), aortic clamping 82.6 (20), circulatory arrest 30.5 (8). Retrograde cerebral circulation was carried out during circulatory arrest in all cases. Mean temperature during this period was 14.9 degrees C. During the postoperative period we recorded three permanent neurological complications, six cases of acute renal failure and seven respiratory complications, specifically one instance of adult respiratory distress syndrome and six of pneumonia, the most common. Consumption of blood products was high, with great interindividual variation.

CONCLUSION: Anesthesia for and recovery from surgery for acute aortic dissection is complex and associated with a high rate of postoperative complication and high consumption of blood products.