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“Why is frozen elephant trunk better than classical elephant trunk?”

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Indian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The treatment of complex aortic arch disease, in chronic or acute setting, has always represented a fascinating challenge for the heart surgeon also because, often, the involvement of the aortic arch is associated with a simultaneous involvement of the ascending aorta and of the proximal portion of the descending thoracic aorta. In recent years, there have been many surgical and/or endovascular techniques and approaches in a single step or multiple steps proposed with the aim of treating and simplifying these complex conditions. The first procedure available for this purpose was the conventional elephant trunk technique, proposed by the German surgeon Hans Borst, back in 1983. In the following years, the technique has undergone modifications, up to what is nowadays considered its most modern evolution, represented by the frozen elephant trunk which allows managing the proximal descending thoracic aorta using the antegrade release of a self-expandable stent graft. In this review article, we try to analyze the advantages and drawbacks of both techniques from clinical and practical points of view.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiac Surgery, IRCCS, Cardio-Thoracic-Vascular Department, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Di Bologna, University of Bologna, Via Massarenti, 9 40138, Bologna, Italy

    Luca Di Marco, Carlo Mariani, Giacomo Murana, Ciro Amodio, Francesco Campanini, Marianna Berardi, Alessandro Leone & Davide Pacini

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  1. Luca Di Marco
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  2. Carlo Mariani
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  3. Giacomo Murana
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Dr. LDM and Dr. CM contributed equally to the manuscript. All of the authors read, reviewed, and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luca Di Marco.

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Di Marco, L., Mariani, C., Murana, G. et al. “Why is frozen elephant trunk better than classical elephant trunk?”. Indian J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 38 (Suppl 1), 70–78 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12055-021-01302-1

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