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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2006;29:413-415
© 2006 Elsevier Science NL

How-to-do-it

A vascular tube for intercostal artery reimplantation

Department of Cardio-thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumaicho, Showaku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan

Received 14 October 2005; received in revised form 3 December 2005; accepted 5 December 2005.

^_* Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 52 744 2376; fax: +81 52 744 2383. (Email: machapon{at}med.nagoya-u.ac.jp).

Paraplegia and paraparesis are major concerns in descending and thoracoabdominal aortic repair. A shorter period of spinal cord ischemia is preferred for protection. We have developed a new technique in which plural intercostal arteries are reattached in a short time. The lower descending aorta is tailored using automatic sutures, and a vascular tube is made with diameter about 2.0 cm. Blood supply of intercostal arteries including the Adamkiewicz artery is resumed by perfusing the vascular tube in not more than 20 min. This technique has been applied in four patients, and there was neither paraplegia nor paraparesis.

Key Words: Vascular tube • Spinal cord protection