[Innovations in the Treatment of Aneurysms of the Ascending Aorta]

Numerous innovations conceming the difficult problems of ascending aortic surgery appear regularly in the literature. Two of these have been selected for this review because of the impact they have had on the treatment of aneurysms of the ascending aorta. These are the aortic valve sparing operations for root replacement and canulation of the right subclavian artery. the first is a modification of the Bentall-DeBono operation, avoiding the replacement of structurally normal valve leaflets and thus avoiding long term anticoagulation treatment. The safety of the procedure and the long term results are excellent. Subclavian canulation allows better cerebral protection when circulatory arrest is required and has simplified considerably surgery for both aortic dissections, ascending aorta and arch aneurysms.