Preliminary Results of Debranch-First Technique in Frozen Elephant Trunk Procedures

Background: To evaluate the outcomes of frozen elephant trunk (FET) procedures performed with a customized graft that allows debranch-first technique with continuous antegrade cerebral perfusion and early distal aortic and myocardial reperfusion.

Methods: Between 2016 and 2018 34 patients (30 men; median age, 59.7 years) were enrolled in an ambispective single-center study called FET Optimization (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03600077). The patients underwent FET procedure using a novel modified E-Vita graft (JOTEC GmbH, Hechingen, Germany) plus graft with 2 dedicated reperfusion branches with debranch-first technique. Mortality and morbidity were primary endpoints. Secondary endpoints were overall duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, debranching, limb ischemia, cardiac ischemia, cerebral perfusion, and amount of aortic coverage.

Results: No deaths at 30 days were recorded, and the major adverse event (grade ≥ 2) rate was 33% (11 patients) including 1 (3%) nondisabling stroke and 1 (2.9%) permanent spinal cord ischemic event. Proximal FET collar anastomosis were in zone 0 (68%) or zone 1 (32%). Median cardiopulmonary bypass duration was 165 minutes (range, 144-185), distal aortic ischemic time 38 minutes (range, 32-45), and cardiac ischemic time 74 minutes (range, 62-94). The time of distal aortic ischemia was shorter in nonobese patients (27 vs 49 minutes, P = .043) and in zone 0 (23 cases) vs zone 1 (11 cases) anastomosis (34 vs 42 minutes, P = .043).

Conclusions: The FET procedure with debranch-first technique is safe and feasible and resulted in low mortality and morbidity rates. Further investigation is needed to compare it with standard techniques.