Management strategies and outcomes in pregnancy-related acute aortic dissection: a multicentre cohort study in China.

BACKGROUND: Acute aortic dissection (AD) in pregnancy poses a lethal risk to both mother and fetus. However, well-established therapeutic guidelines are lacking. This study aimed to investigate clinical features, outcomes and optimal management strategies for pregnancy-related AD. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective multicentre cohort study including 67 women with acute AD during pregnancy or within 12 weeks postpartum from three major cardiovascular centres in China between 2003 and 2021. Patient characteristics, management strategies and short-term outcomes were analysed. RESULTS: Median age was 31 years, with AD onset at median 32 weeks gestation. Forty-six patients (68.7%) had type A AD, of which 41 underwent immediate surgery. Overall maternal mortality was 10.4% (7/67) and fetal mortality was 26.9% (18/67). Compared with immediate surgery, selective surgery was associated with higher risk of composite maternal and fetal death (adjusted RR: 12.47 (95% CI 3.26 to 47.73); p=0.0002) and fetal death (adjusted RR: 8.77 (95% CI 2.33 to 33.09); p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Immediate aortic surgery should be considered for type A AD at any stage of pregnancy or postpartum. For pregnant women with AD before fetal viability, surgical treatment with the fetus in utero should be considered. Management strategies should account for dissection type, gestational age, and fetal viability. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT05501145.

A nomogram for predicting the risk of postoperative delirium in individuals undergoing cardiovascular surgery.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Delirium is a common mental disorder after adult cardiovascular surgery. Fifteen to 23% of patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery and cardiomyopathy experience delirium, and the efficacy of treatment interventions for delirium has been consistently unsatisfactory. METHODS: A total of 729 patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery were randomly allocated into a training set and a validation set. A nomogram was developed using a logistic regression model to predict the incidence of delirium following cardiovascular surgery. The validity of the model was assessed by determining the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calculating the area under the ROC curve (AUROC), performing a calibration plot, and executing a decision curve analysis. This model was internally validated using the bootstrap method. RESULTS: Postoperative delirium (POD) occurred in 165 cases (22.6%) among the 729 patients. Predictors included age, transient ischemic attack, length of preoperative stay, preoperative left ventricular injection fraction and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide level, and intraoperative infusion of dexmedetomidine and human fibrinogen. The nomogram showed sufficient differentiation and calibration (AUROC = 0.754, 95% confidence interval = 0.703-0.804). The calibration graphs showed that the predictive values of the nomogram were in agreement with the actual values. The analysis of the training and validation sets suggested that the model possessed specific clinical significance. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, the predictive model consists of seven factors that can roughly predict the occurrence of POD in patients who undergo cardiovascular surgery.

Inflammatory signature-based theranostics for acute lung injury in acute type A aortic dissection.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a serious adverse event in the management of acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD). Using a large-scale cohort, we applied artificial intelligence-driven approach to stratify patients with different outcomes and treatment responses. A total of 2,499 patients from China 5A study database (2016-2022) from 10 cardiovascular centers were divided into 70% for derivation cohort and 30% for validation cohort, in which extreme gradient boosting algorithm was used to develop ALI risk model. Logistic regression was used to assess the risk under anti-inflammatory strategies in different risk probability. Eight top features of importance (leukocyte, platelet, hemoglobin, base excess, age, creatinine, glucose, and left ventricular end-diastolic dimension) were used to develop and validate an ALI risk model, with adequate discrimination ability regarding area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.844 and 0.799 in the derivation and validation cohort, respectively. By the individualized treatment effect prediction, ulinastatin use was significantly associated with significantly lower risk of developing ALI (odds ratio [OR] 0.623 [95% CI 0.456, 0.851]; P = 0.003) in patients with a predicted ALI risk of 32.5-73.0%, rather than in pooled patients with a risk of <32.5 and >73.0% (OR 0.929 [0.682, 1.267], P = 0.642) (Pinteraction = 0.075). An artificial intelligence-driven risk stratification of ALI following ATAAD surgery were developed and validated, and subgroup analysis showed the heterogeneity of anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapy, which suggested individualized anti-inflammatory strategies in different risk probability of ALI.

Association between serum uric acid to serum creatinine ratio with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality in adults with hypertension.

The serum uric acid to serum creatinine ratio (SUA/sCr) is a standardized index of renal function. More importance was attached to the significance of this ratio in the progression of hypertension. While the association between the prognosis of hypertension and SUA/sCr is unknown. Therefore, we aimed to prospectively examine the associations of serum uric acid to serum creatinine ratio and all-cause and CVD mortality in adults with hypertension. Participants with hypertension from NHANES 1999-2018 (n = 15,269) were included. They were stratified by 1 increment of SUA/sCr ratio and categorized into 6 groups as ≤ 4, > 4 to 5, > 5 to 6, > 6 to 7, > 7 to 8, and > 8. The reason for categorization in 6 groups was to analyze the influence of different ratios on outcomes accurately and provide more precise guidance. The sample size is large enough that even if divided into 6 groups, it does not affect the statistical power. The primary outcomes were all-cause and CVD mortality. Weighted multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to estimate hazard ratio (HRs) of mortality. Restricted cubic spline regression models were utilized to examine dose-response associations between the serum uric acid to serum creatinine ratio and all-cause and CVD mortality. Relatively comprehensive stratified analyses were conducted to confirm the accuracy and stability of the results. There were 15,269 total participants, 49.4% of whom were men, with an average age of 56.6 years. Weighted multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models demonstrated participants in the lowest group (≤ 4) had the HRs (95% CIs) of 1.43 (1.18, 1.73) for all-cause mortality and 2.8 (1.92, 4.10) for CVD mortality when compared to the reference group. Participants in the highest group (> 8) had the HRs (95% CIs) of 0.47 (0.25, 0.89) for CVD mortality when compared to the reference group. There were progressively lower risks for all-cause and CVD mortality with the SUA/sCr ratio increased (both P trend < 0.01). The SUA/sCr ratio was (P for nonlinearity < 0.01) nonlinearly correlated with all-cause mortality, with inflection points of 6.25. In addition, the restricted cubic splines results indicated that the SUA/sCr ratio (P for nonlinearity = 0.32) showed linear and negative associations with cardiovascular mortality with inflection points of 6.54. The inverse associations between SUA/sCr ratio and all-cause mortality were consistent across all subgroups except for the subgroup of eGFR < 45 ml/min/1.73 m2 and never smokers (P trend = 0.20 and 0.13, respectively), and the inverse associations between low SUA/sCr ratio and CVD mortality were consistent across all subgroups (P trend < 0.01). Contrary to previous studies, outcomes suggest that lower SUA/sCr ratio was associated with higher risks of all-cause and CVD mortality in adults with hypertension.

Inflammatory Trajectory and Anti-Inflammatory Pharmacotherapy in Frozen Elephant Trunk-Treated Acute Type I Aortic Dissection.

Background: Acute DeBakey type I aortic dissection is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Little is known regarding the role of leukocyte trajectory in prognosis. Methods: We included adult acute DeBakey type I aortic dissection patients with emergency frozen elephant trunk and total arch replacement in 2 cardiovascular centers (2020-2022). We used latent class mixed model to group patients according to their leukocyte patterns from hospital admission to the first 5 days after surgery. We investigated the association of leukocyte trajectory and 30-day and latest follow-up mortality (October 31, 2023), exploratorily analyzing the effects of ulinastatin treatment on outcome. Results: Of 255 patients included, 3 distinct leukocyte trajectories were identified: 196 in group I (decreasing trajectory), 34 in group II (stable trajectory), and 25 in group III (rising trajectory). Overall, 30-day mortality was 25 (9.8%), ranging from 8.2% (16/196) in group I, 8.8% (3/34) in group II, to 24.0% (6/25) in group III (P for trend = .036). Group III was associated with higher mortality both at 30 days (adjusted hazard ratio, 3.260; 95% CI, 1.071-9.919; P = .037) and at the last follow-up (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.840; 95% CI, 1.098-7.345; P = .031) compared with group I. Conclusions: Distinct and clinically relevant groups can be identified by analyzing leukocyte trajectories, and a rising trajectory was associated with higher short-term and midterm mortality.

ASF1A-dependent P300-mediated histone H3 lysine 18 lactylation promotes atherosclerosis by regulating EndMT.

Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is a key driver of atherosclerosis. Aerobic glycolysis is increased in the endothelium of atheroprone areas, accompanied by elevated lactate levels. Histone lactylation, mediated by lactate, can regulate gene expression and participate in disease regulation. However, whether histone lactylation is involved in atherosclerosis remains unknown. Here, we report that lipid peroxidation could lead to EndMT-induced atherosclerosis by increasing lactate-dependent histone H3 lysine 18 lactylation (H3K18la) in vitro and in vivo, as well as in atherosclerotic patients' arteries. Mechanistically, the histone chaperone ASF1A was first identified as a cofactor of P300, which precisely regulated the enrichment of H3K18la at the promoter of SNAI1, thereby activating SNAI1 transcription and promoting EndMT. We found that deletion of ASF1A inhibited EndMT and improved endothelial dysfunction. Functional analysis based on Apoe KO Asf1a ECKO mice in the atherosclerosis model confirmed the involvement of H3K18la in atherosclerosis and found that endothelium-specific ASF1A deficiency inhibited EndMT and alleviated atherosclerosis development. Inhibition of glycolysis by pharmacologic inhibition and advanced PROTAC attenuated H3K18la, SNAI1 transcription, and EndMT-induced atherosclerosis. This study illustrates precise crosstalk between metabolism and epigenetics via H3K18la by the P300/ASF1A molecular complex during EndMT-induced atherogenesis, which provides emerging therapies for atherosclerosis.

Operative Mortality After Type A Aortic Dissection Surgery: Differences Based on Sex and Age.

Background: There is controversy regarding sex differences in short-term mortality in acute type A aortic dissection (ATAAD). Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the impact of sex differences on 30-day operative mortality after ATAAD surgery and to determine if other covariates modify the association. Methods: Consecutive patients (N = 5670) with surgically repaired ATAAD were identified from the multicenter China 5A study. The primary outcome was operative mortality. The age dependency was modeled using a cubic spline curve. Results: There were 1,503 females (26.5%) and 4,167 males (73.5%). Females were older and had a lower percentage of comorbidities compared with males. Females had higher mortality compared to males (10.2% vs 8.2%, P = 0.019); however, there was no difference after propensity analyses (adjusted OR: 1.334 [95% CI: 0.918-1.938]). There was an interaction with sex and age (P interaction = 0.035): older age was associated with higher odds of operative mortality among females (OR: 1.045 [95% CI: 1.029-1.061]) compared with males (OR: 1.025 [95% CI: 1.016-1.035]). The risk of mortality for males and females appears to diverge at 55 years of age (P interaction = 0.019): females under 55 years of age had similar odds to males (OR: 0.852 [95% CI: 0.603-1.205]) but higher odds when over 55 years (OR: 1.420 [95% CI: 1.096-1.839]) compared to males. Conclusions: Under the age of 55 years, females have similar odds of operative mortality compared with males; however, over the age of 55 years females have higher odds than males. Understanding differences in risk allows for individualized treatment strategies. (Additive Anti-inflammatory Action for Aortopathy & Arteriopathy; NCT04398992).

Nesfatin-1 mitigates calcific aortic valve disease via suppressing ferroptosis mediated by GSH/GPX4 and ZIP8/SOD2 axes.

OBJECTIVE: Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) predominantly affects the elderly and currently lacks effective medical treatments. Nesfatin-1, a peptide derived from the cleavage of Nucleobindin 2, has been implicated in various calcification processes, both physiological and pathological. This study explores the impact of Nesfatin-1 on the transformation of aortic valve interstitial cells (AVICs) in CAVD. METHODS AND RESULTS: In vitro experiments showed that Nesfatin-1 treatment mitigated the osteogenic differentiation of AVICs. Corresponding in vivo studies demonstrated a deceleration in the progression of CAVD. RNA-sequencing of AVICs treated with and without Nesfatin-1 highlighted an enrichment of the Ferroptosis pathway among the top pathways identified by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis. Further examination confirmed increased ferroptosis in both calcified valves and osteoblast-like AVICs, with a reduction in ferroptosis following Nesfatin-1 treatment. Within the Ferroptosis pathway, ZIP8 showed the most notable modulation by Nesfatin-1. Silencing ZIP8 in AVICs increased ferroptosis and osteogenic differentiation, decreased intracellular Mn2+ concentration, and reduced the expression and activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD2). Furthermore, the silencing of SOD2 exacerbated ferroptosis and osteogenic differentiation. Nesfatin-1 treatment was found to elevate the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) and levels of glutathione (GSH), as confirmed by Western blotting and GSH concentration assays. CONCLUSION: In summary, Nesfatin-1 effectively inhibits the osteogenic differentiation of AVICs by attenuating ferroptosis, primarily through the GSH/GPX4 and ZIP8/SOD2 pathways.

Macrophage MCT4 inhibition activates reparative genes and protects from atherosclerosis by histone H3 lysine 18 lactylation.

Macrophage activation is a hallmark of atherosclerosis, accompanied by a switch in core metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis. The crosstalk between metabolic rewiring and histone modifications in macrophages is worthy of further investigation. Here, we find that lactate efflux-associated monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4)-mediated histone lactylation is closely related to atherosclerosis. Histone H3 lysine 18 lactylation dependent on MCT4 deficiency activated the transcription of anti-inflammatory genes and tricarboxylic acid cycle genes, resulting in the initiation of local repair and homeostasis. Strikingly, histone lactylation is characteristically involved in the stage-specific local repair process during M1 to M2 transformation, whereas histone methylation and acetylation are not. Gene manipulation and protein hydrolysis-targeted chimerism technology are used to confirm that MCT4 deficiency favors ameliorating atherosclerosis. Therefore, our study shows that macrophage MCT4 deficiency, which links metabolic rewiring and histone modifications, plays a key role in training macrophages to become repair and homeostasis phenotypes.

MicroRNA-19a-3p augments TGF-ß1-induced cardiac fibroblast activation via targeting BAMBI.

The main pathogenic factor leading to cardiac remodeling and heart failure is myocardial fibrosis. Recent research indicates that microRNAs are essential for the progress of cardiac fibrosis. Myocardial fibrosis is considered to be alleviated through the bone morphogenetic protein and activin membrane-bound inhibitor (BAMBI), which does this by blocking the transforming growth factor ß1 (TGF-ß1) signaling pathway. Here, this study sought to elucidate the post-transcriptional regulation of miR-19a-3p on BAMBI and its role in TGF-ß1-induced cardiac fibroblast activation. Transverse aortic constriction (TAC) caused both myocardial interstitial and perivascular collagen deposition. RT-PCR showed that miR-19a-3p was upregulated in the myocardial tissue of cardiac fibrosis, and TGF-ß1 induced an increase of miR-19a-3p expression in cardiac fibroblasts. The dual-luciferase reporter test and qRT-PCR confirmed that miR-19a-3p directly combined with BAMBI mRNA 3'UTR, thus reduced BAMBI expression, which diminished the capability of BAMBI to inhibit TGF-ß1. Furthermore, miR-19a-3p mimic increased the activation of TGF-ß1/SMAD2/3 pathway signaling, which supported cardiac fibroblast activation, which blocked by overexpression of BAMBI. These findings imply that miR-19a-3p enhances the activation of TGF-ß1/SMAD2/3 by inhibiting BAMBI, further boosting the activation of cardiac fibroblasts, and may thus offer a novel strategy to tackling myocardial fibrosis.

Chinese Additive Anti-inflammatory Action for Aortopathy & Arteriopathy (5A) Registry protocol: rationale, design and methodology.

BACKGROUND: Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) is a life-threatening condition. Inflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis, development and progression of AAS, and is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Understanding the inflammatory responses and inflammation resolutions is essential for an appropriate management of AAS. METHOD: Thirty Chinese cardiovascular centers have collaborated to create a multicenter observational registry (named Chinese Additive Anti-inflammatory Action for Aortopathy & Arteriopathy [5A] registry), with consecutive enrollment of adult patients who underwent surgery for AAS that was started on Jan 1, 2016 and will be ended on December 31, 2040. Specially, the impact of inflammation and anti-inflammatory strategies on the early and late adverse events are investigated. Primary outcomes are severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores at 7 days following this current surgery. Secondary outcomes are SISR, 30-day mortality, operative mortality, hospital mortality, new-onset stroke, acute kidney injury, surgical site infection, reoperation for bleeding, blood transfusion and length of stay in the intensive care unit. DISCUSSION: The analysis of this multicenter registry will allow our better knowledge of the prognostic importance of preoperative inflammation and different anti-inflammatory strategies in adverse events after surgery for AAS. This registry is expected to provide insights into novel different inflammatory resolutions in management of AAS beyond conventional surgical repair. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04398992 (Initial Release: 05/19/2020).

SIRT6-mediated Runx2 downregulation inhibits osteogenic differentiation of human aortic valve interstitial cells in calcific aortic valve disease.

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is a progressive cardiovascular disorder involving multiple pathogenesis. Effective pharmacological therapies are currently unavailable. Sirtuin6 (SIRT6) has been shown to protect against aortic valve calcification in CAVD. The exact regulatory mechanism of SIRT6 in osteoblastic differentiation remains to be determined, although it inhibits osteogenic differentiation of aortic valve interstitial cells. We demonstrated that SIRT6 was markedly downregulated in calcific human aortic valves. Mechanistically, SIRT6 suppressed osteogenic differentiation in human aortic valve interstitial cells (HAVICs), as confirmed by loss- and gain-of-function experiments. SIRT6 directly interacted with Runx2, decreased Runx2 acetylation levels, and facilitated Runx2 nuclear export to inhibit the osteoblastic phenotype transition of HAVICs. In addition, the AKT signaling pathway acted upstream of SIRT6. Together, these findings elucidate that SIRT6-mediated Runx2 downregulation inhibits aortic valve calcification and provide novel insights into therapeutic strategies for CAVD.

Anti-inflammatory response-based risk assessment in acute type A aortic dissection: A national multicenter cohort study.

Background: Early identification of patients at high risk of operative mortality is important for acute type A aortic dissection (TAAD). We aimed to investigate whether patients with distinct risk stratifications respond differently to anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapy. Methods: From 13 cardiovascular hospitals, 3110 surgically repaired TAAD patients were randomly divided into a training set (70%) and a test set (30%) to develop and validate a risk model to predict operative mortality using extreme gradient boosting. Performance was measured by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Subgroup analyses were performed by risk stratifications (low versus middle-high risk) and anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapy (absence versus presence of ulinastatin use). Results: A simplified risk model was developed for predicting operative mortality, consisting of the top ten features of importance: platelet-leukocyte ratio, D-dimer, activated partial thromboplastin time, urea nitrogen, glucose, lactate, base excess, hemoglobin, albumin, and creatine kinase-MB, which displayed a superior discrimination ability (AUC: 0.943, 95 % CI 0.928-0.958 and 0.884, 95 % CI 0.836-0.932) in the derivation and validation cohorts, respectively. Ulinastatin use was not associated with decreased risk of operative mortality among each risk stratification, however, ulinastatin use was associated with a shorter mechanical ventilation duration among patients with middle-high risk (defined as risk probability >5.0 %) (ß -1.6 h, 95 % CI [-3.1, -0.1] hours; P = 0.048). Conclusion: This risk model reflecting inflammatory, coagulation, and metabolic pathways achieved acceptable predictive performances of operative mortality following TAAD surgery, which will contribute to individualized anti-inflammatory pharmacotherapy.

Contemporary use and outcome of Cabrol shunt in type A aortic dissection surgery: insight from China 5A study.

OBJECTIVE: Cabrol shunt has been introduced for surgical repair of type A aortic dissection (TAAD) without robust evidence supporting its routine preventive use. METHODS: Adult patients with TAAD from China 5A study were included if surgically repaired between 2016 and 2022. Primary outcome was operative mortality according to Society of Thoracic Surgeons criterion. Overall, we compared clinical outcomes in patients with and without Cabrol shunt, and subgroup analysis were further examined between Cabrol shunt and outcome among patients with or without root replacement. RESULTS: 3283 patients were finally identified for analysis, with median age of 51 (IQR 41-59) years, 2389 men, and 2201 treated with Cabrol shunt technique. Cabrol shunt-treated patients were more severely ill before surgery than those without Cabrol shunt. Overall, the rate of operative mortality was 6.6% (146/2201 in Cabrol shunt group and 71/1082 in non-Cabrol shunt group), with no association between Cabrol shunt and operative mortality (OR 1.012 (95% CI 0.754 to 1.357); p=0.938). Stratified by root replacement, Cabrol shunt was associated with similar risk of operative mortality either in patients without root replacement (OR 1.054 (0.747 to 1.487); p=0.764) or in patients with root replacement (OR 1.194 (0.563 to 2.536); p=0.644) (P interaction=0.765). Results were similar in multiple sensitivity analysis. CONCLUSION: Cabrol shunt was not associated with either a greatly lowered or an increased risk of operative mortality, regardless of aortic root replacement. Our study did not support the use of Cabrol shunt as a routine preventive strategy in the treatment of TAAD. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04398992.

Postoperative thrombocytopenia and subsequent consequences in acute type A aortic dissection.

OBJECTIVES: To ascertain if postoperative thrombocytopenia following open aortic surgery with a median sternotomy can predict early- and intermediate-term morbidity and mortality. METHODS: From January 2018 to December 2022, a comparison was made between patients who had and didn't have postoperative thrombocytopenia (defined as a nadir < 75 × 103/µL after 72 h of open aortic surgery with median sternotomy). Intermediate-term mortality during follow-up was the main result, with cerebrovascular accident and acute renal injury requiring dialysis as secondary events. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to account for selection bias between groups. The Kaplan-Meier method with the log-rank test was used to assess intermediate-term survivals following IPTW modification. To identify the nonlinear link between platelet nadir and mortality probability, a generalized additive mix model was applied. To help increase power in testing for the overall effect of platelet nadir on outcomes in the generalized additive mix model, the hazard ratios and 95% CIs for each subgroup and their interactions were examined. RESULTS: The study included 457 patients, 347 male (75.9%), with mean age of 54 ± 12 years. The last follow-up was done on April 14th, 2023 and the median follow-up time was 16 (6-31) months. Following IPTW, patient characteristics were balanced among cohorts. Platelet nadir was found to be significantly inversely related to early-term mortality (IPTW-adjusted hazard ratio = 0.968 (0.960, 0.977), p < 0.001), and AKI requiring dialysis (IPTW-adjusted hazard ratio = 0.979 (0.971, 0.986), p < 0.001). A nonlinear relationship between platelet nadir and mortality risk probability during follow-up visually showed that the likelihood of mortality decreased with platelet nadir increased. In confounder-adjusted survival ('postoperative thrombocytopenia not acquired' vs 'postoperative thrombocytopenia'; HR: 0.086 [95% CI: 0.045-0.163]; p < 0.01) analysis, non-acquired postoperative thrombocytopenia was associated with a lower risk of mortality, and the treatment benefit was validated in IPTW-adjusted analysis, which showed an HR of 0.067. CONCLUSIONS: Early postoperative thrombocytopenia following type A aortic dissection surgery is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality. Because postoperative thrombocytopenia can indicate a poor prognosis, monitoring early postoperative platelets helps identify individuals who may develop late postoperative problems, which is performed by this affordable biomarker.

What is the context?The most common complications of acute type A aortic dissection included postoperative bleeding, acute kidney injury (AKI), rethoracotomy for hemostasis due to hemorrhage, stroke and even death.It is unknown that platelets are associated with morbidity and mortality in type A aortic dissection.What is new?The present study suggests that early postoperative thrombocytopenia following type A aortic dissection surgery is a risk factor for short- and intermediate-term morbidity and mortality.Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship between platelet nadir and mortality risk probability during follow-up visually showed that the likelihood of mortality decreased with platelet nadir increased.Especially, in confounder-adjusted Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, postoperative thrombo­cytopenia was associated with a higher risk of mortality, and the effect was also validated in IPTW-adjusted analysis.What is the impact?This study provides further evidence that the platelet count represents a reliable early monitoring tool for the predictive value in the prognosis of acute type A aortic dissection.

False lumen-dependent segmental arteries are associated with spinal cord injury in frozen elephant trunk procedure for acute type I aortic dissection.

Objective: To investigate the association between false lumen (FL) dependency of segmental arteries (SAs) at T9-L3 levels and the risk of spinal cord injury (SCI) following total arch replacement and frozen elephant trunk (FET) implantation in the setting of acute DeBakey type I aortic dissection (AAD). Methods: The study involved consecutive patients with AAD who underwent total arch replacement and FET implantation between 2020 and 2022. Primary outcome was postoperative SCI. The inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) method was employed to minimize the impact of no-randomization bias. Antegrade placement of FET was followed by end-to-end anastomosis of a 4-branch arch graft at the proximal landing site of FET. Results: A total of 146 patients were included (age, 50.5 ± 11.7 years, 115 male), of whom 35 (24%) had SAs at T9-L3 levels completely dependent on FL (FL-dependency group). There was no significant difference in early (30-day or in-hospital) mortality rates between FL-dependency (14.3%) and FL-independency (18.0%) groups (P = .80), however, the rate of SCI was significantly higher in the FL-Dependency group (34.3% vs 2.7%, P < .001). After adjustments, FL dependency was associated with a significantly increased risk of SCI (odds ratio, 13.1; 95% confidence interval, 4.2-41.0; P < .001), whereas it was not significantly associated with risks of early mortality or other major complications (P = .16-.98). Conclusions: FL dependency of SAs at the T9-L3 levels was significantly associated with the development of SCI following FET implantation in AAD, warning against its uses on patients presenting with FL dependency of SAs at critical segments.