ObjectiveTo evaluate whether long frozen elephant trunk (FET) increases the risk of spinal cord injury in patients with acute type A aortic dissection.MethodsFrom 2018 to 2019, 172 patients with acute type A aortic dissection were treated in Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital. They were divided into two groups according to the length of FET: patients treated with stents of 100 mm in length were enrolled into a short FET group, and those with stents of 150 mm in length into a long FET group. There were 124 patients in the short FET group, including 108 (87.1%) males and 16 (12.9%) females with a mean age of 51.8±7.9 years. There were 48 patients in the long FET group, including 44 (91.7%) males and 4 (8.3%) females with a mean age of 50.6±9.7 years. The clinical data and prognosis of the patients were analyzed.ResultsThe mean distal stent graft was at the level of T 8.5±0.7 in the long FET group, and at the level of T 6.8±0.6 in the short FET group (P=0.001). Sixteen patients died after operation in the two groups, including 13 (10.5%) in the short FET group and 3 (6.2%) in the long FET group (P=0.561). There were 7 patients of spinal cord injury in the two groups, including 6 (4.8%) in the short FET group and 1 (2.2%) in the long FET group (P=0.675). There was no statistical difference in other complications between the two groups. The follow-up time was 16.7 (1-30) months. During the follow-up, 2 patients died in the long FET group and 5 died in the short FET group. No new spinal cord injury or distal reintervention occurred during the follow-up.ConclusionLong FET does not increase the incidence of spinal cord injury in patients with acute type A aortic dissection.
ObjectiveTo assess whether expanding the landing zone of frozen elephant trunk (FET) increases the risk of spinal cord injury in patients with acute type A aortic dissection. MethodsPatients with acute type A aortic dissection who were treated in Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital from 2017 to 2020 were collected. They were divided into two groups according to the landing zone of FET by the image diagnosis of postoperative chest X-ray or total aorta CT angiography, including a Th9 group which defined as below the eighth thoracic vertebral level, and a Th8 group which was defined as above or equal to the eighth thoracic vertebral level. Using the propensity score matching (PSM) method, the preoperative and intraoperative data of two groups were matched with a 1∶2 ratio. The prognosis of the two groups after PSM was analyzed. Results Before PSM, 573 patients were collected, including 58 patients in the Th9 group and 515 patients in the Th8 group. After PSM, 174 patients were collected, including 58 patients in the Th9 group (46 males and 12 females, with an average age of 47.91±9.92 years), and 116 patients in the Th8 group (93 males and 23 females, with an average age of 48.01±9.53 years). There were 8 patients of postoperative spinal cord injury in the two groups after PSM, including 5 (4.31%) patients in the Th8 group and 3 (5.17%) patients in the Th9 group (P=0.738). In the Th8 group, 2 patients had postoperative transient paresis and recovered spontaneously after symptomatic treatment, and 1 patient had postoperative paraplegia with cerebrospinal fluid drainage. After 3 days, the muscle strength of both lower limbs gradually recovered after treatment. There was no statistical difference in complications between the two groups (P＞0.05). ConclusionExpanding the landing zone of FET does not increase the risk of spinal cord injury in patients with acute type A aortic dissection. However, the sample size is limited, and in the future, multicenter large-scale sample size studies are still needed for verification