Open aortic repair up to previous abdominal aortic surgery.

BACKGROUND: To determine whether direct open repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms after previous abdominal aortic surgery is a safe option. METHODS: Ten patients were operated between January 2006 and January 2012. Mean age was 70 years (62-78 years). Four aneurysms (Crawford type III) were treated by firstly performed bypasses from the upper thoracic aorta to the celiac trunk, the superior mesenteric artery, and the left renal artery. Secondly performed aortic repair included revascularization of intercostal arteries identified as critical for spinal cord and the right renal artery. Similarly, the 6 aneurysms (Crawford type IV) were treated by firstly performed bypass from the upper thoracic aorta to the left renal artery before aortic repair. RESULTS: The overall mortality and paraplegia rates were nil. The maximal creatinin sera variation was 48 ± 16% with return to the baseline level before discharge. Five patients presented with pulmonary complications. The duration of stay was 9.3 days (2-29) in the intensive care unit and 24 days (10-40) in the surgical unit. The mean follow-up was 35 months. No patient died during the follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, open redo aortic surgery appears to be safe. The main relevant point is the sequential reconstruction of the aorta including bypasses of the visceral branches that lowered the visceral ischemic damage because of high level aortic cross-clamping.

Intraoperative factors affecting renal outcome after open repair of suprarenal aortic aneurysms.

BACKGROUND: The open repair of suprarenal aortic aneurysm requires supraceliac aortic cross-clamping and separate renal artery reconstruction. The aim of this study was to determine the intraoperative factors responsible for postoperative renal dysfunction. METHODS: Between January 1, 2000 and May 31, 2010, 54 suprarenal aortic aneurysms were repaired at our center (mean age of the patients, 66 ± 8 years). All cases were operated through a left retroperitoneal approach without left renal vein division. Acute kidney injury was defined as a 50% increase of serum creatinine level from the preoperative baseline concentration. Perioperative variables were tested to be correlated with renal dysfunction (Spearman rank). RESULTS: The ischemic time was 28 ± 8 minutes for the mesentery and the right kidney and 63 ± 16 minutes for the left kidney. The total aortic clamping time was 115 ± 27 minutes. The volume of autologous transfusion was 957 ± 479 mL, allogeneic transfusion was 936 ± 473 mL, and colloids and crystalloids was 7,194 ± 2,201 mL. Two patients died. Acute kidney injury occurred in 15 patients, with complete recovery at discharge. The autologous blood transfusion volume (P = 0.009, r = 0.36) and the total aortic clamping time (P = 0.04, r = 0.30) were correlated with renal dysfunction. CONCLUSION: Postoperative renal dysfunction based on the variation in creatinine serum level was transient and requires further investigation using sensitive biomarkers for tubular ischemia.