The American Association for Thoracic Surgery announced on social media that an article by Texas Heart Institute surgeons Ourania Preventza, MD (@OPreventzaMD), Scott A. LeMaire, MD (@scottlemaire), Joseph S. Coselli, MD (@JCoselli_MD), Vicente Orozco-Sevilla, MD (@vicenteorozco2), and colleagues is the 2021 top cited adult cardiac article in the association’s primary journal, The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (JTCVS). The article, titled “Neurologic complications after the frozen elephant trunk procedure: A meta-analysis of more than 3000 patients,” describes a meta-analysis of 35 studies of outcomes in patients who underwent total aortic arch repair for aortic aneurysm. The analysis found that when the procedure involved placing a stent no more than 10 cm long, rates of spinal cord injury (leading to paralysis, paraplegia, or paraparesis) were generally low; in contrast, stents more than 15 cm long or that extended below the level of the T8 vertebra were associated with much higher rates of spinal cord injury. In addition, the frozen elephant trunk technique was associated with more adverse events overall in acute Type A dissection cases.

“This is a timely and important publication,” says Dr. Preventza, “given the very recent FDA approval (April 20, 2022) of Terumo Aortic’s Thoraflex graft—the first and only hybrid device approved for treating aortic arch and descending thoracic aortic disease. The knowledge we accumulated with this meta-analysis could guide and help us to treat patients using the newly approved device.”

 

2021 most downloaded #AdultCardiac article from JTCVS: https://t.co/LUxHZbyrcT #AATSFoundersDay @AATSJournals @OPreventzaMD @scottlemaire pic.twitter.com/tUX1ilxDaT

— AATS (@AATSHQ) June 7, 2022