Covering Anastomosis to Frozen Elephant Trunk in Secondary Downstream Aorta Replacement

Abstract

There has been an increasing number of secondary downstream aorta replacements following aortic arch repair using a frozen elephant trunk (FET). We present an anastomosis technique to join a frozen elephant graft to a downstream prosthetic graft. The FET is inserted into the downstream graft with continuous sutures, with a two-bite Dacron graft added to the frozen elephant side. This technique may prevent anastomotic leakage between two grafts.

Keywords

aortic replacement - total arch replacement - prosthetic graft - FET stent graft

Publication History

Received: 10 December 2023

Accepted: 10 October 2024

Article published online:
17 February 2025

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