Extension of Frozen Stent Graft for the Treatment of Multiple Thoracic Aneurysms—A Report of Two Cases—

Abstract

Case 1 : A 67-year-old woman was diagnosed as having an aortic arch saccular aneurysm and a descending aortic aneurysm (73 and 71 mm in diameter, respectively).

Case 2 : An 82-year-old man was diagnosed as having a rapidly growing distal aortic arch aneurysm and a descending aortic aneurysm (each 60 mm in diameter). He had past histories of type B aortic dissection and Y-shaped graft (16 × 8 mm) replacement for an abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Endovascular treatment was not appropriate because the aneurysm had advanced close to the arch vessels. The approach used for case 1 was median sternotomy, and that for case 2 was left anterolateral thoracotomy.

Both patients underwent a one-staged operation with the extended frozen stent graft for multiple thoracic aortic aneurysms of the distal arch and descending aorta. This procedure is considered one of the surgical treatments of choice.