Surgical treatment of aortic coarctation in adults: Beneficial effect on arterial hypertension.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to determine the outcome after surgical repair of aortic coarctation in adults, analysing its effect on arterial blood pressure. METHODS: Twenty-five adults (9 women, 16 men), mean age 43.4 years (19 to 70 years), underwent aortic coarctation surgical repair. All patients suffered from preoperative hypertension. Mean blood pressure was 182/97 mm Hg. Sixteen (64%) patients demonstrated reduced load capacity. Operative technique was resection and end-to-end anastomosis for 5 patients (20%), interposition of a Dacron-tube graft for 3 patients (12%), Dacron-patch dilatation was performed in 7 (28%) patients, and in 10 (40%) patients we performed an extra-anatomical bypass graft. RESULTS: Early mortality occurred in 1 patient (4%). The mean blood pressure was reduced [systolic 182 mm Hg vs. 139 mm Hg (p < 0.001), diastolic 97 mm Hg vs. 83 mm Hg (p < 0.001)] in all patients. In 12 patients, blood pressure normalized immediately after surgery, in 7 patients it remained slightly elevated (systolic blood pressure between 140-160 mm Hg), and 1 patient suffered from prolonged arterial hypertension. Preoperatively, all patients were treated with antihypertensive drugs. Eleven of 20 patients received long-term medication during follow- up. In the remaining 4 patients, medication lists were unobtainable in retrospect. The mean follow-up was 7.1 years (min. 1.0 years; max. 16.6 years). One patient (5%) died from cardiac failure 12.4 years after the operation. On average, the New York Heart Association (NYHA) class was improved by 0.92. CONCLUSIONS: The surgical repair of aortic coarctation in adults can be performed with low surgical risk. Surgery reduces hypertension and permits more effective medical treatment.

Neurophysiological monitoring during thoracoabdominal aortic endovascular stent graft implantation.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefit of neurophysiological monitoring during thoracic and thoracoabdominal endovascular stent graft implantation. METHODS: The spinal cords of 21 patients undergoing endovascular stent graft implantation on the thoracic and thoracoabdominal aorta were monitored with transcranial motor-evoked potentials (tcMEP) and somatosensory-evoked potentials (SSEP). All patients underwent mild systemic hypothermia (34-35 degrees C), constant cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure and vital parameter monitoring. If CSF pressure exceeded 15 mmHg, CSF-drainage was carried out. RESULTS: Three of the 21 patients (14%) exhibited short-term loss of tcMEP and SSEP after the deployment of the self-expanding endoprosthesis. We observed an intraoperative recovery of the evoked potentials in all cases. CSF-drainage was necessary in three of them. One patient, whose potentials were stable intraoperatively, developed paraparesis 3 weeks after the intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Neurophysiological monitoring has proved to be an ideal monitoring method to detect spinal cord ischemia during thoracic and thoracoabdominal endovascular stent graft implantation. Due to the advantages of endovascular therapy (no aortic cross-clamping, continuous distal perfusion, and no reperfusion injury), changes in potentials were seldom observed.