Echo-Guided Seldinger Technique Facilitates Ascending Aorta Cannulation in Type A Aortic Dissection

Ascending aortic cannulation was successfully performed in 64 consecutive patients, using the Seldinger technique, with the hands-free continuous-echo monitoring, utilizing a new stabilizer. This stabilizer-assisted method can safely provide a rapid and reliable route for antegrade central perfusion during in type A dissections repair.

Epiaortic Ultrasound-Guided True Lumen Cannulation of Ascending Aorta in Acute Aortic Dissection Type A

Background: The choice of arterial inflow for acute Stanford type A aortic dissection repair remains controversial. The axillary artery should be considered as first choice for cannulation, but this technique is time-consuming. The ascending aortic cannulation provides antegrade perfusion and can be performed rapidly but there are several concerns such as aortic rupture, extension of dissection, and false lumen cannulation. Objective: To compare the establishment time of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and postoperative outcomes of the two cannulation techniques that provide antegrade perfusion, which was direct true lumen cannulation on the dissected ascending aorta using epiaortic ultrasound-guided and axillary artery cannulation in Siriraj Hospital. Materials and Methods: The authors retrospectively reviewed all the 30 cases of acute aortic dissection type A using two different cannulation methods performed between February 2011 and May 2017. Direct true lumen ascending aortic cannulation was performed using the epiaortic ultrasound-guide with Seldinger technique in 12 patients, and axillary artery cannulation was performed in 18 patients. Results: The direct true lumen ascending aortic cannulation was safely performed in all patients. None of them had aortic rupture. Skin incision to CPB time was significantly faster in the epiaortic ultrasound-guided ascending aortic cannulation group at 29±8 versus 49±14 minutes (p<0.001). The 30-day mortality and postoperative adverse events, such as ischemic stroke, acute kidney injury, visceral organ and limb malperfusion showed no statistically significant difference from the axillary artery cannulation method. Conclusion: Epiaortic ultrasound-guided true lumen cannulation of ascending aorta in the treatment of acute aortic dissection type A is safe and feasible. Skin incision to CPB time can be performed faster and provided good outcome compared to the axillary artery cannulation technique. Keywords: Acute aortic dissection, Ascending cannulation, Epiaortic ultrasound

Ascending aorta cannulation in totally thoracoscopic minimally invasive cardiac surgery

The Cannulation through the femoral artery is the preferred method of establishing peripheral extracorporeal circulation in totally thoracoscopic minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS). However, facing to contraindications of femoral artery cannulation, a modified aortic cannulation is an alternative approach for totally thoracoscopic MICS.

Transthoracic clamp versus endoaortic balloon occlusion in minimally invasive mitral valve surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Summary This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine outcomes following aortic occlusion with the transthoracic clamp (TTC) versus endoaortic balloon occlusion (EABO) in patients undergoing minimally invasive mitral valve surgery. A subgroup analysis compares TTC to EABO with femoral cannulation separately from EABO with aortic cannulation. We searched Medline and Embase up to December 2018. Two people independently and in duplicate screened title and abstracts, full-text reports, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for non-randomized studies. We identified 1564 reports from which 11 observational studies with 4181 participants met the inclusion criteria. We found no evidence of difference in the risk of postoperative death or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) between the 2 techniques. Evidence for a reduction in aortic dissection with TTC was found: 4 of 1590 for the TTC group vs 19 of 2492 for the EABO group [risk ratio 0.33, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.12–0.93; P = 0.04]. There was no difference in aortic cross-clamp (AoX) time between TTC and EABO [mean difference (MD) −5.17 min, 95% CI −12.40 to 2.06; P = 0.16]. TTC was associated with a shorter AoX time compared to EABO with femoral cannulation (MD −9.26 min, 95% CI −17.00 to −1.52; P = 0.02). EABO with aortic cannulation was associated with a shorter AoX time compared to TTC (MD 7.77 min, 95% CI 3.29–12.26; P &lt; 0.001). There was no difference in cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time between TTC and EABO with aortic cannulation (MD −4.98 min, 95% CI −14.41 to 4.45; P = 0.3). TTC was associated with a shorter CPB time compared to EABO with femoral cannulation (MD −10.08 min, 95% CI −19.93 to −0.22; P = 0.05). Despite a higher risk of aortic dissection with EABO, the rates of survival and cerebrovascular accident across the 2 techniques are similar in minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.