ORIGINAL ARTICLE  VASCULAR SECTION 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2022 February;63(1):37-43

DOI: 10.23736/S0021-9509.21.11244-3

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Incidence of spinal cord ischemia according to the patency of reimplanted segmental arteries during thoracoabdominal aortic replacement

Jae H. LEE, Hakju KIM, Hyoung W. CHANG, Dong J. KIM, Jun S. KIM, Cheong LIM, Kay-Hyun PARK ✉

Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, South Korea

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the impact of segmental artery reimplantation and its patency on spinal cord ischemia (SCI) in thoracoabdominal aorta replacement.
METHODS: For 193 patients who underwent early postoperative computed tomographic (CT) angiography after thoracoabdominal aorta replacement, the technique of segmental artery reimplantation, their patency, and postoperative SCI were retrospectively investigated.
RESULTS: The early patency rate of reimplanted segmental artery was 83.3% (210 of 252), as 13 were taken down intraoperatively and 42 were not visualized in the postoperative CT angiography. The patency rate differed according to the reimplantation technique: 93.6% (131/140) for en bloc patch, 95.6% (43/45) for small individual patch, and 53.7% (36/67) for graft interposition. SCI occurred in 13 (6.3%) patients, 4 of whom (2.0%) remained paraplegic permanently. SCI was significantly more frequent (P=0.044) in the patients in whom segmental artery reimplantation was not successful (take-down or occlusion, 6/37=16.2%) than in those who had all segmental arteries sacrificed intentionally (2/64=3.1%) and those who showed patency of all reimplanted segmental arteries (5/92=5.4%). Especially, there was no permanent paraplegia in the last group. Failure of intended segmental artery reimplantation was a significant risk factor of postoperative SCI in logistic regression analysis (P=0.012; odds ratio 4.65, 95% confidence interval 1.41-15.36).
CONCLUSIONS: During thoracoabdominal aorta replacement, attention should be paid to the segmental artery reimplantation technique, which affects the risk of occlusion or intraoperative take-down and thereby may have impact on postoperative SCI.

KEY WORDS: Aorta; Aneurysm; Spinal cord ischemia; Paraplegia