Surgical management of hemorrhage from rupture of the aortic arch.

BACKGROUND: Control of hemorrhage in patients with active bleeding from rupture of the aortic arch is difficult, because of the location of the bleeding and the impossibility of cross-clamping the aorta without interfering with cerebral perfusion. A precise and swift plan of management helped us salvage some patients and prompted us to review our experience. METHODS: Six patients with active bleeding of the aortic arch in the mediastinum and pericardial cavity (5 patients) or left pleural cavity (1 patient), treated between 1992 and 1996, were reviewed. Bleeding was reduced by keeping the mediastinum under local tension (3 patients) or by applying compression on the bleeding site (2 patients), or both (1 patient) while circulatory support, retransfusion of aspirated blood, and hypothermia were established. The diseased aortic arch was replaced during deep hypothermic circulatory arrest, which ranged from 25 to 40 minutes. In 3 patients, the brain was further protected by retrograde (2 patients) or antegrade (1 patient) cerebral perfusion. RESULTS: Hemorrhage from the aortic arch was controlled in all patients. Two patients died postoperatively, one of respiratory failure and the other of abdominal sepsis. Recovery of neurologic function was assessed and complete in all patients. The 4 survivors are well 8 to 49 months after operation. CONCLUSIONS: An approach relying on local tamponade to reduce bleeding, rapid establishment of circulatory support and hypothermia, retransfusion of aspirated blood, and swift repair of the aortic arch under circulatory arrest allows salvage of patients with active bleeding from an aortic arch rupture.

Long-term angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor treatment attenuates adrenergic responsiveness without altering hemodynamic control in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: The sympathoadrenal and the renin-angiotensin systems are involved in blood pressure regulation and are known to be markedly activated during cardiac surgery. Because unexpected hypotensive events have been reported repeatedly during anesthesia in patients chronically treated with angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, the authors questioned whether renin-angiotensin system blockade would alter the hemodynamic control through attenuation of the endocrine response to surgery and/or through attenuation of the pressor effects of exogenous catecholamines. METHODS: Patients with preserved left ventricular function undergoing mitral valve replacement or coronary revascularization were divided into two groups according to preoperative drug therapy: patients receiving ACE inhibitors for at least 3 months (ACEI) group, n = 22) and those receiving other cardiovascular drug therapy (control group, n = 19). Anesthesia was induced using fentanyl and midazolam. Systemic hemodynamic variables were recorded before surgery, after anesthesia induction, during sternotomy, after aortic cross-clamping, after aortic unclamping, as well as after separation from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and during skin closure. Blood was sampled repeatedly up to 24 h after surgery for hormone analysis. To test adrenergic responsiveness, incremental doses of norepinephrine were infused intravenously during hypothermic CPB and after separation from CPB. From the dose-response curves, pressor (defined as mean arterial pressure changes), and vasoconstrictor (defined as systemic vascular resistance changes) effects were analyzed, and the slopes and the dose of norepinephrine required to increase mean arterial pressure by 20% were calculated (PD(20)). RESULTS: At no time did the systemic hemodynamics and the need for vasopressor support differ between the two treatment groups. However, for anesthesia induction, significantly less fentanyl and midazolam were given in the ACEI group. Although plasma renin activity was significantly greater in the ACEI group throughout the whole 24-h study period, plasma concentrations of angiotensin II did not differ between the two groups. Similar changes in catecholamines angiotensin II, and plasma renin activity were found in the two groups in response to surgery and CPB. The pressor and constrictor effects of norepinephrine infusion were attenuated markedly in the ACEI group: the dose-response curves were shifted to the right and the slopes were decreased at the two study periods; PD(20) was significantly greater during hypothermic CPB (0.08 micro/kg in the ACEI group vs. 0.03 micro/kg in the control group; P < 0.05) and after separation from CPB (0.52 micro/kg in the ACEI group vs. 0.1 micro/kg in the control group; P < 0.05). In both groups, PD(20) was significantly less during hypothermic CPB than in the period immediately after CPB. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term ACE inhibitor treatment in patients with preserved left ventricular function alters neither the endocrine response nor the hemodynamic stability during cardiac surgery. However, a significantly attenuated adrenergic responsiveness associated with incomplete blockade of the plasma renin-angiotensin system supports the hypothesis that inhibition of angiotensin II generation and of bradykinin degradation within the vascular wall mediates some of the vasodilatory effects of ACE inhibitors.

Blunt carotid artery injury: difficult therapeutic approaches for an underrecognized entity.

GOALS: To assess the damage inflicted by carotid artery injuries, to attempt to explain some differences between published series, and to summarize the management of different types of lesions. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of patients treated for nonpenetrating injury of the carotid arteries in our hospital from 1985 to 1991. RESULTS: Seven patients (all men, with ages ranging from 19 to 55 years) had eight injuries to the carotid arteries. One patient was asymptomatic; another patient had neurologic symptoms unrelated to the carotid artery injury; severe neurologic deficits developed in the remaining five patients, of whom three died. Symptoms occurred immediately in one patient, after a few days in two patients, and after a few weeks in two patients. Arterial damage included dissection (four cases), pseudoaneurysm (two cases), local contusion (one case), and occlusion (one case). Surgical treatment consisted of aneurysmorraphy and extraintracranial bypass in one patient each. Surgical intervention was not considered in the other patients because of the severity of their neurologic symptoms. Besides collective reviews, very few series pertaining to this pathologic condition exist in the literature; however, some report good overall results. These reports comprise a high proportion of asymptomatic cases; the internal injury is usually only discovered incidentally on thoracic aortograms or by scanning the neck during head computed tomography scans. CONCLUSIONS: Nonpenetrating trauma to the carotid arteries carries significant morbidity and mortality rates. Wide-scale screening for carotid lesions in victims of blunt trauma would be necessary to determine the true incidence and gravity of this pathologic condition. A search for carotid artery injury should be performed in patients with a history of neck or head trauma to detect whether the correction of any lesion would lead to improvement or prevention of neurologic deficits.

[Isolated or combined myocardial revascularization in patients over 65 years of age]. / La revascularisation du myocarde isolée ou combinée chez les patients de plus de 65 ans.

Of a total of 4 952 patients undergoing surgery between 1975 and 1982 for coronary artery disease, 430 (8.7%) were over 65. Single or multiple coronary by-pass was carried out in all patients, either alone or in combination with other procedures (aortic valve replacement: 16 cases; mitral: 10 cases; mitral aortic: 3 cases; mitral-tricuspid: 1 case; vascular surgery: 8 cases; aneurysm resection + mitral stenosis: 15 cases). Hospital mortality was 6.9%. Clinical improvement (NYHA), despite the short follow-up, was most considerable: only 6% of the patients failed to show improvement. The risks of surgery are therefore acceptable and, given the high improvement rate, operation is to be encouraged in this age group.