[Adjunctive methods during surgery for thoracoabdominal aneurysms--effect of selective visceral arteries perfusion incorporated with partial femoro-femoral bypass].

In this study, we report the effect of selective perfusion to the visceral arteries during aortic cross-clamping at surgery for thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms with an adjunct of femoro-femoral (F-F) extracorporeal bypass. The total series comprising 28 patients were divided into 3 groups according to the perfusion mode to the celiac and the renal arteries, i.e., group I; the arteries were continuously perfused by the extracorporeal bypass, group II; aortic cross-clamp excluded the branches from the bypass flow but selective perfusion was employed, and group III; the liver or the kidneys were subjected to ischemia. As a result, group III developed hepatic failure at the incidence of 50% which was characterized by hepatocellular damage followed by cholestatic dysfunction. As for postoperative renal function, this group revealed persistently high level of serum creatinine, and 60% of this series resulted in renal failure. On the contrary, group II showed a comparable effect to group I on the preservation of hepato-renal function, and there were no differences in the incidence of hepatic or renal failure between the two groups. Multiple organ failure was a predominant cause of hospital death, and it developed only in the cases with aortic cross-clamp time more than 90 minutes. However, avoiding ischemia achieved in group I or II significantly reduced the incidence of MOF and its related deaths. It is concluded that selective perfusion system incorporated with an aid of F-F partial bypass was a useful measure to protect vulnerable organs from ischemia and to reduce postoperative mortality and morbidities.