Temporary axillo-femoral bypass during open repair for abdominal aortic aneurysm: report of a case.

Open repair is the "gold standard" treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) and although considered safe, this operation is very invasive for high-risk patients with severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) because the left ventricular after-load changes sharply with the clamping and unclamping of the aorta. We prevented the change in left ventricular after-load by establishing a temporary axillo-bilateral femoral arterial shunt, which enabled us to perform open repair of an AAA safely in a patient with severe AS.