Functional brain isolation technique for stroke prevention in thoracic endovascular aortic repair

To prevent embolic stroke during thoracic endovascular aortic repair, we have adopted the brain isolation technique since June 2014 in 9 selected high-risk patients (9/134: 6.7%) having ulcerated or protruding atheromas within the proximal aorta. Cardiopulmonary bypass was used to prevent aortic atheromas from entering the brain. We used a heparin-coated closed-loop cardiopulmonary bypass system incorporating a soft reservoir bag with 1 mg/kg heparin to minimize the disadvantages of extracorporeal circulation. The bypass graft (right axillary-left carotid-left axillary) was used as an arterial inflow in patients undergoing zone-1 landing (n = 8), while peripheral cannulation into 3 brachiocephalic arteries was employed in the remaining patient. Initial pump flow was set at 1.3 l/min/m(2), and native cardiac output was reduced by adjusting the reservoir bag volume. Aortography was performed to confirm non-visualization of the arch vessels before catheter manipulation. There was no mortality and 1 solitary left cerebellar infarction.