Purpose: At present, a two-step surgical approach is necessary to treat patients with coexistent pathologic conditions involving the proximal and descending thoracic aorta. A hybrid endograft is described here that enables such treatment during a single operation.
Materials and methods: The Chavan-Haverich endograft consists of a Dacron vascular prosthesis with stainless-steel stents affixed at its distal end. After approval by the institutional review board, the endograft was prospectively implanted in 22 patients with multisegment thoracic aortic disease (13 men, nine women; median age, 64 years). Eleven patients had type A dissections (one acute, 10 chronic), four had a chronic type B dissection, and seven had atherosclerotic aneurysms of the ascending aorta or aortic arch as well as of the descending aorta. Of these patients, 11 additionally required aortic valve replacement or coronary artery bypass grafting. Via median sternotomy, the aortic arch was opened in circulatory arrest. After antegrade deployment of the stent-containing portion in the descending aorta, the proximal non-stent-containing endograft was used to reconstruct the aortic arch. Median follow-up was 14 months.
Results: Endograft implantation was successful in all but one patient. Complications included neurologic deficits that were transient in one case and lasting in two, two cases of vocal cord paralysis, and one death. In all patients with atherosclerotic aneurysms who received the endograft (six of seven), aneurysm thrombosis was noted at follow-up. In aortic dissections, partial or complete false-lumen thrombosis to the level of the stents occurred in all patients. None of the patients showed a progressive widening of the descending aorta.
Conclusion: The Chavan-Haverich endograft enables one-step treatment of multisegment pathologic conditions affecting the thoracic aorta that otherwise would require two or more operations.