Aortic arch aneurysms.

Aneurysms involving the aortic arch are formidable surgical challenges. Though the first successful surgery was performed more than 40 years ago, the risk of surgical treatment remained prohibitively high until recently. Intra-operative protection of the brain from ischaemic injury was the main concern. Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest with retrograde cerebral perfusion technique has considerably reduced the risk of surgery to acceptable levels.