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PARAPLEGIA FOLLOWING SURGERY OF THE DESCENDING THORACIC AORTA
Author(s) -
Hall David J.,
Fraser Robert D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.1989.tb07032.x
Subject(s) - medicine , paraplegia , surgery , thoracic aorta , complication , heart bypass , descending aorta , cardiothoracic surgery , aorta , aortic surgery , spinal cord , psychiatry
Paraplegia remains an uncontrollable complication of aortic reconstructive surgery. Twenty‐one consecutive patients undergoing surgery at the Royal Adelaide Hospital for lesions of the descending thoracic aorta were reviewed. Those patients suffering an acute traumatic transection had a much higher rate of postoperative paraplegia (40%) than those undergoing elective reconstruction of chronic aneurysms (10%). The incidence of paraplegia after surgery for an acute transection when bypass was not employed was greater than 50%. In contrast, the outcome was successful in all patients who underwent reconstluction using letihem extracorporeal bypass. Based on these findings, the routine use of bypass during reconstruction of the thoracic aorta is recommended, panicularly for acute traumatic transection.