Thoracoabdominal Aneurysm Repair: A 20-Year Perspective
Mark F. Conrad, Robert S. Crawford, J. Kenneth Davison, and Richard P. Cambria
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, 2007
At Harvard Medical School, 445 consecutive thoracoabdominal aneurysm (TAA) repairs were done between 1987 and 2005. Epidural cooling to prevent SCI was used in 240 (68%) extent I to III repairs. Predictors of mortality and SCI were assessed with multivariate analysis, and long-term survival was determined with Kaplan-Meier life-table analysis. Epidural cooling significantly reduced the risk of SCI in patients with types I to III TAA (13.7% versus 29%).