Successful resection of aneurysm of thoracic aorta and replacement by graft.

Various procedures have been used in the surgical treatment of intrathoracic aortic aneurysms. These have been recently reviewed and classified as follows: (1) those designed to promote thrombosis and fibrotic organization of the process by ligation, introduction of foreign material, or periarterial fibroblastic reaction; (2) endoaneurysmorrhaphy; and (3) extirpation of the lesion with or without restoration of blood flow through the parent vessel. With the exception of the last method, most of these procedures have proved generally unsatisfactory. Obviously the procedure of choice is extirpation of the diseased part and restoration of normal function, but this has been successfully accomplished in only a relatively small number of cases of sacciform aneurysms ' or those associated with coarctation.' So far as we have been able to determine, there are no reports of its successful application in a case of fusiform aneurysm of the thoracic aorta. I t seems desirable, therefore, to report the following case of a syphilitic aneurysm of the descend'