Upper Hemisternotomy Versus Full Sternotomy for Replacement of the Supracoronary Ascending Aorta and Aortic Valve.

OBJECTIVE

Upper hemisternotomy (UHS) for supracoronary ascending aorta replacement (scAAR) with concomitant aortic valve replacement (AVR) results in less trauma and potentially faster convalescence compared with full sternotomy (FS). Direct head-to-head studies are lacking. We compared a group of UHS patients with a matched group of FS patients undergoing scAAR and AVR.

METHODS

There were 198 patients who underwent scAAR and AVR procedures by a single surgeon between 1999 and 2020. After matching 6 preoperative characteristics, there were 50 UHS and 50 FS patients. Patients who required acute type A aortic dissection repair, reoperations, concomitant procedures, or hypothermic circulatory arrest were excluded.

RESULTS

In the matched sample, the hospital mortality rate was 1% (1 of 100). The median cardiopulmonary bypass time was 150 (interquartile range [IQR], 131 to 172) min and 164.5 (IQR, 138 to 190) min, respectively, for the UHS and FS groups (P = 0.08). The median aortic cross-clamp time was 121 (IQR, 107 to 139) min during UHS and 131 (IQR, 115 to 159) min during FS (P = 0.05). The median ventilation time was 7 (IQR, 3 to 14) h versus 17 (IQR, 10 to 24) h, respectively, after UHS and FS (P = 0.005). The median hospital length of stay was 7 (IQR, 6 to 9) days after UHS and 8 (IQR, 7 to 11) days after FS (P = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The low morbidity and mortality support the wider use of UHS for scAAR and AVR in appropriately selected patients. Larger studies are needed to confirm these initial findings.