Acknowledgments The authors thank Scott A. Weldon, MA, CMI, and Carol P. Larson, BS, AMI, for their outstanding medical illustrations and Stephen N. Palmer, PhD, ELS, and Susan Y. Green, MPH, for invaluable editorial support. Improvements in anesthesia, surgical techniques,…
* Disclosure: Dr. Coselli serves as a consultant for Vascutek Ltd., a subsidiary of Terumo Corporation. Frequently, and in a variety of clinical settings, cardiovascular surgeons encounter occlusive disease involving the branches arising from the aortic arch. As a result…
Introduction Aortic aneurysm is defined as a localized dilation of the aorta that is at least 50% greater than that of nondiseased adjacent aorta. In the distal aorta, namely the descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aorta, most aneurysms form as a…
See Video 26.1 on ExpertConsult.com . Step 1 Surgical Anatomy ◆ Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs) are characterized by dilation of the aorta (to at least 1.5 times its normal diameter) at the diaphragmatic hiatus—the boundary that separates the descending thoracic…