0000000000133832
AUTHOR
Martin Grabenwöger
Contemporary spinal cord protection during thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgery and endovascular aortic repair: a position paper of the vascular domain of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery†.
Ischaemic spinal cord injury (SCI) remains the Achilles heel of open and endovascular descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal repair. Neurological outcomes have improved coincidentially with the introduction of neuroprotective measures. However, SCI (paraplegia and paraparesis) remains the most devastating complication. The aim of this position paper is to provide physicians with broad information regarding spinal cord blood supply, to share strategies for shortening intraprocedural spinal cord ischaemia and to increase spinal cord tolerance to transitory ischaemia through detection of ischaemia and augmentation of spinal cord blood perfusion. This study is meant to support physicians cari…
The future of aortic surgery in Europe
At least every ten years, each specialty should reflect upon its past, its present and its future, in order to be able to reconfirm the direction in which it is headed, to adopt suggestions from inside and outside and, consequently, to improve. As such, the aim of this manuscript is to provide the interested reader with an overview of how aortic surgery and (perhaps more accurately) aortic medicine has evolved in Europe, and its present standing; also to provide a glimpse into the future, trying to disseminate the thoughts of a group of people actively involved in the development of aortic medicine in Europe, namely the Vascular Domain of the European Association of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery …
Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) for the treatment of aortic diseases: a position statement from the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC), in collaboration with the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI)
Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is an emerging treatment modality, which has been rapidly embraced by clinicians treating thoracic aortic disease.1–4 Fundamentally, it is a far less invasive approach than open surgery and its availability and relative ease of application has changed and extended management options in thoracic aortic disease, including in those patients deemed unfit or unsuitable for open surgery. In the operating room, this requires considerable perceptual, cognitive and psychomotor demands on the operators. The dramatic expansion of TEVAR activity has necessarily prompted a requirement to systematically consider the indications, appropriateness, limitations and…
Evidence, Lack of Evidence, Controversy, and Debate in the Provision and Performance of the Surgery of Acute Type A Aortic Dissection
Acute type A aortic dissection is a lethal condition requiring emergency surgery. It has diverse presentations, and the diagnosis can be missed or delayed. Once diagnosed, decisions with regard to initial management, transfer, appropriateness of surgery, timing of operation, and intervention for malperfusion complications are necessary. The goals of surgery are to save life by prevention of pericardial tamponade or intra-pericardial aortic rupture, to resect the primary entry tear, to correct or prevent any malperfusion and aortic valve regurgitation, and if possible to prevent late dissection-related complications in the proximal and downstream aorta. No randomized trials of treatment or t…
Should intentional endovascular stent-graft coverage of the left subclavian artery be preceded by prophylactic revascularisation?
Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) has emerged as a promising therapeutic alternative to conventional open aortic replacement but it requires suitable proximal and distal landing zones for stent-graft anchoring. Many aortic pathologies affect in the immediate proximity of the left subclavian artery (LSA) limiting the proximal landing zone site without proximal vessel coverage. In patients in whom the distance between the LSA and aortic lesion is too short, extension of the landing zone can be obtained by covering the LSA's origin with the endovascular stent graft (ESG). This manoeuvre has the potential for immediate and delayed neurological and vascular symptoms. Some authors, ther…