Results of Castro Bernardes intraluminal ring in surgery for ascending aortic aneurysms and dissections.

OBJECTIVE To demonstrate surgical results using Castro Bernardes intraluminal ring in ascending aorta surgery, instead of conventional suture. METHODS 95 patients underwent ascending aorta surgery from December 2008 to April 2011 at Madre Tereza Hospital (Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil), using Castro Bernardes intraluminal ring instead of conventional suture of the aorta. RESULTS Ninety five patients underwent ascending aorta surgery with Castro-Bernardes intraluminal ring. Thirty patients presented acute dissection and 65 aneurism. Overall postoperative mortality was 15.78% (15/95). Nine patients in 15 (60%) died due to acute type A dissection. For acute type A dissection, mortality was 30% and for aneurism mortality was 9.23%. The intraluminal ring was inserted in distal position in 89 patients and in proximal and distal position in 6 patients. Mortality was related to Bentall & De Bono or Cabrol associated techniques. Average extracorporeal circulation time was 57.4 minutes and average aortic cross-clamping time was 37 minutes. CONCLUSION The use of Castro Bernardes intraluminal ring in ascending aortic surgery avoiding conventional suture reduces extracorporeal circulation time and aortic cross-clamping time, improving surgical results. This approach simplifies ascending aortic surgery whether the disease is type A dissection or aneurysm, and may be considered a good alternative technique.