A Case of Urgent Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair with the Double-Chimney Graft Technique for a Ruptured Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 73-year-old woman suffered from ruptured aortic arch aneurysm into mediastinum. The patient was treated by thoracic endovascular aortic repair with the double-chimney graft technique. Three days later, computed tomography (CT) revealed type 1a endoleak (EL) between the chimney grafts. Ten days later, the patient was treated by coil embolization of the aneurysm from the left subclavian artery. The patient recovered, and was without aortic aneurysm events during six months of follow up.

Successful Repair of Critical Anastomotic Bleeding after Surgery for Ruptured Infected Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

Infected aortic aneurysm is very difficult to treat and is associated with a high mortality rate. A 78-year-old man had been scheduled to undergo selective endovascular repair for distal aortic arch aneurysm. While standby, however, he was admitted to our emergency room because of hemoptysis. Rapid dilatation of the aneurysm shown on serial CT and elevated of inflammatory reactions yielded a diagnosis of infected aortic aneurysm. Because the aneurysm had ruptured into the left lung, emergency surgery was performed. Six days after the first operation, critical bleeding due to anastomotic disruption of the distal aorta caused by infection and subsequent cardiac arrest occurred. We immediately started open chest massage and controlled the bleeding manually in the ICU, while an operating room was prepared. In the redo operation, anastomotic disruption was repaired using the visceral pleura under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. Anastomotic bleeding is a potentially life-threatening condition, therefore extremely prompt measures are vital. Appropriate management based on the assumption of anastomotic bleeding was very important in the postoperative course of this case of infectious aortic aneurysm.

A Case of Ruptured Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Requiring Two-Stage Sternal Closure due to Posterior Mediastinal Hematoma / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 70-year-old man with severe chest pain was transferred to our hospital by ambulance. Computed tomography revealed a ruptured thoracic aortic aneurysm and massive bleeding into the posterior mediastinum. Emergency total aortic arch replacement was performed through median sternotomy. However sternal closure induced severe hypotension because the heart was elevated anteriorly by the posterior mediastinal hematoma. The hematoma could not be eliminated fully so the sternum was kept open at the first operation followed by delayed sternal closure 3 days after the operation. After that, the postoperative course was uneventful and the patient was discharged on postoperative day 43.