OBJECTIVE: To describe the incidence of acute aortic dissection in a clearly defined population, to assess onset symptoms and admission biochemical marker levels and to analyse variables potentially associated to mortality.
METHODS: Medical records and CT angiograms of all patients hospitalised for acute aortic dissection in the Stockholm County during the 5-year period 2012-2016 were reviewed. The patients were followed until date of death or until 31 December 2020. The annual incidence was determined. Associations between clinical and biochemical variables and 30-day mortality, respectively, were analysed using multivariable logistic regression models.
RESULTS: A total of 344 patients were included. The mean annual incidence of acute aortic dissection was 4.1 per 100 000. Median age was 67 years (range 24-91) and 34% (n=118) were women. Type A dissection was predominant; 220 patients (64%) had type A and 124 (36%) had type B. Painless dissection was more common in type A than in type B (18% vs 15%, p=0.003). Type A dissection patients also more commonly had elevated plasma troponin T (44% vs 21%, p<0.001) and thrombocytopenia (26% vs 15%, p=0.010) than type B dissection patients on admission. Overall, 30-day mortality was 28% in type A and 11% in type B (p<0.001). Both painless dissection (OR 4.30, 95% CI 1.80 to 10.28, p=0.001) and elevated troponin T (OR 3.78, 95% CI 2.01 to 7.12, p<0.001), respectively, were associated with increased 30-day mortality in all acute aortic dissection patients. Thrombocytopenia was associated with elevated 30-day mortality only in patients with type A (OR 3.09, 95% CI 1.53 to 6.21, p=0.002).
CONCLUSIONS: Nearly two-thirds of acute aortic dissection patients had type A. Levels of troponin T and platelets, respectively, paired with presence or absence of typical symptoms may become useful adjuncts in risk stratification of patients with acute aortic dissection.

OBJECTIVE: Cabrol shunt has been introduced for surgical repair of type A aortic dissection (TAAD) without robust evidence supporting its routine preventive use.
METHODS: Adult patients with TAAD from China 5A study were included if surgically repaired between 2016 and 2022. Primary outcome was operative mortality according to Society of Thoracic Surgeons criterion. Overall, we compared clinical outcomes in patients with and without Cabrol shunt, and subgroup analysis were further examined between Cabrol shunt and outcome among patients with or without root replacement.
RESULTS: 3283 patients were finally identified for analysis, with median age of 51 (IQR 41-59) years, 2389 men, and 2201 treated with Cabrol shunt technique. Cabrol shunt-treated patients were more severely ill before surgery than those without Cabrol shunt. Overall, the rate of operative mortality was 6.6% (146/2201 in Cabrol shunt group and 71/1082 in non-Cabrol shunt group), with no association between Cabrol shunt and operative mortality (OR 1.012 (95% CI 0.754 to 1.357); p=0.938). Stratified by root replacement, Cabrol shunt was associated with similar risk of operative mortality either in patients without root replacement (OR 1.054 (0.747 to 1.487); p=0.764) or in patients with root replacement (OR 1.194 (0.563 to 2.536); p=0.644) (P interaction=0.765). Results were similar in multiple sensitivity analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: Cabrol shunt was not associated with either a greatly lowered or an increased risk of operative mortality, regardless of aortic root replacement. Our study did not support the use of Cabrol shunt as a routine preventive strategy in the treatment of TAAD.
BACKGROUND: NCT04398992.

BACKGROUND: Contemporary management of uncomplicated type B aortic dissections (uTBAD) is based on the acuity and various morphological features. Medical therapy is mandatory, while the risks of early thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) are balanced against the potential for rupture, complex surgery, and death. Improved aortic morphology following TEVAR is documented, but evidence for improved overall survival is lacking. The costs and impact on quality of life are also needed.
METHODS: The trial is a randomized, open-label, superiority clinical trial with parallel assignment of subjects at 23 clinical sites in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Eligibility includes patients aged ≥ 18 with uTBAD of < 4 weeks duration. Recruited subjects will be randomized to either standard medical therapy (SMT) or SMT + TEVAR, where TEVAR must be performed between 2-12 weeks from the onset of symptoms.
CONCLUSIONS: This trial will evaluate the primary question of whether early TEVAR improves survival at 5 years among uTBAD patients. Moreover, the costs and the impact on quality of life should provide sorely needed data on other factors that play a role in treatment strategy decisions. The common Nordic healthcare model, with inclusion of all aortic centers, provides a favorable setting for carrying out this trial, while the robust healthcare registries ensure data validity.
BACKGROUND: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05215587. Registered on January 31, 2022.

Population-based epidemiologic studies of aortic dissections (ADs) are needed. This study aimed to report clinical characteristics, incidences, and mortality rates for adult patients admitted to Danish hospitals with type A AD (TAAD) or type B AD (TBAD) from 1996 through 2016.
We conducted a nationwide, population-based register study. All cases of AD registered with International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes in the Danish National Patient Registry at time of admission to a hospital with available medical records underwent validation. Data were merged between nationwide health registries including the cause of death registry. Patients with validated AD were matched 1:10 on sex and age with patients with hypertension from the general Danish population.
Of 5018 registered cases of AD, 4183 cases underwent review and 3023 (60.2%) were validated as AD. After exclusions, the distribution of validated TAAD and TBAD was 1620 (60.5%) and 1059 (39.5%; P<0.001), 67.5% and 67.0% of patients were men, and mean ages at dissection were 63.5±12.9 and 67.5±12.2 years (P<0.001), respectively. The most prevalent comorbidities for TAAD were hypertension (55.2%), thoracic aortic aneurysms (14.6%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (13.1%); for TBAD, the most prevalent comorbidities were hypertension (64.1%), aortic aneurysms at any location (7.5% to 12.0%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (15.7%). The overall mean annual incidence rate was 4.2/100 000 patient-years. Incidence was significantly higher for TAAD (2.2/100 000) compared with TBAD (1.5/100 000; P<0.001). The 30-day mortality rates for validated TAAD and TBAD were 22.0% and 13.9% (P<0.001), respectively, with no significant changes over time or between sexes. Adjusted 5-year overall mortality rates for TAAD and TBAD were hazard ratio 3.2 (2.9 to 3.5; P<0.001; aortic-related cause of death, 57.0%) and hazard ratio 2.1 (1.9 to 2.4; P<0.001; aortic-related cause of death, 42.8%), respectively, compared with the general hypertensive population. Among patients who survived 30 days from dissection, the adjusted 5-year overall mortality rates were hazard ratio 1.1 (1.0 to 1.3; P=0.12; aortic-related cause of death, 23.2%) and hazard ratio 1.4 (1.2 to 1.6; P<0.001; aortic-related cause of death, 25.6%) for TAAD and TBAD, respectively.
Hypertension, aortic aneurysms, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were the most prevalent comorbidities. The 30-day mortality frequencies were consistent over time with no significant differences between sexes. The 5-year mortality rate was higher for TAAD than TBAD. If the patient survived 30 days from dissection, the mortality rate for patients with TAAD was comparable with that of the general hypertensive population, but the mortality rate was significantly higher in patients with TBAD.

BACKGROUND: Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is often used to reduce the incidence of delirium in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. However, it was found in our clinical practice that the incidence of delirium in some patients with aortic dissection (AD) remained high even after using DEX. The aim of the present study was to clarify whether the protective effects of DEX against delirium were different between Stanford type A and B AD patients during ICU stay.
METHODS: Data of patients with Stanford type A or B AD who were treated in the ICU of our hospital between 2015 and 2018 retrospectively were reviewed. They were divided into four groups: A1 group (Stanford type A AD patients using DEX), A2 group (Stanford type A AD patients without using DEX), B1 group (Stanford type B AD patients using DEX), and B2 group (Stanford type B AD patients without using DEX). Patients in A1 and B1 groups received intravenous administration of DEX within 1 h admission to the ICU and after surgery or stent implantation at a loading dose of 1 µg/kg, followed by continuous infusion of 0.2-0.7 µg/(kg·h) for >24 h. The mortality rate, delirium incidence, length of ICU stay, and drug administration were compared between the four groups.
RESULTS: After intravenous administration of DEX, the delirium incidence in B1 group was reduced significantly compared with that in B2 group (2.8% vs. 17.8%, P = 0.04), while there was no significant difference between A1 and A2 group (20.8% vs. 24.3%, P = 0.7). However, DEX administration significantly reduced the use of anti-hypertensive drugs (P = 0.04) and morphine (P = 0.02) in Stanford type A AD patients.
CONCLUSIONS: The use of DEX reduced the incidence of delirium in Stanford type B AD patients during ICU stay, therefore reducing the risk of medical accidents and risk of rupture of the aortic dissecting aneurysm. The preventive effect of DEX against delirium in Stanford type A AD patients was not obvious, and whether increasing the dosage of DEX could enhance the therapeutic efficacy in this group of patients needs to be further observed in future studies.

BACKGROUND: Acute type B aortic dissection (BAAD), as a catastrophic disease, is linked to high morbidity and mortality. The current research is to create a simple risk model to predict in-hospital mortality in BAAD patients based on laboratory results.
METHODS: Patients with BAAD were included from April 1, 2017, to November 30, 2019, in the hospital. Clinical features and laboratory results were collected. Logistic regression analyses and ROC were applied to the evaluation.
RESULTS: Hemoglobin (HB) (114.88 ± 28.42 (nonsurvivor) vs. 134.95 ± 17.88 (survivor), P < 0.001) and UREA (10.93 ± 7.02 (nonsurvivor) vs. 7.17 ± 3.77 (survivor), P = 0.001) were significantly different. In multivariate analysis, HB (hazard ratio (HR): 0.124; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.025 - 0.627; P = 0.012) and UREA (HR: 8.765; 95% CI 2.022 - 37.993; P = 0.004) were independent predictors of in-hospital death. Then, a model with good performance (AUC 0.761 (0.677 - 0.832) was developed.
CONCLUSIONS: A simple model with good prediction value was developed. With this model, physicians quickly can identify high-risk patients, determine the best treatment strategies, and improve prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Since November 2020, all patients undergoing emergency surgery at our hospital have been subjected to preoperative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) screening to prevent nosocomial COVID-19 infection, with admission to the operating room requiring a negative result. Herein, we compared the pre- and postoperative outcomes of acute type A aortic dissection surgery before and after implementing the RT-PCR screening for all patients.
METHODS: We compared the postoperative results of 105 patients who underwent acute type A aortic dissection emergency surgery from January 2019 to October 2020 (Group I) and 109 patients who underwent the surgery following RT-PCR screening from November 2020 to March 2022 (Group II).
RESULTS: The average waiting time from arrival at the hospital to admission to the operating room was 36 and 81 min in Groups I and II, respectively. Ruptured cardiac tamponade was observed preoperatively in 26.6% and 21.1% of Groups I and II patients, respectively. The preoperative waiting time due to RT-PCR screening did not contribute to the cardiac tamponade. Surgical complications such as bleeding (reopened chest), respiratory failure, cerebral neuropathy, or mediastinitis did not increase significantly. The number of deaths 30 days after surgery (Group I = 13 and Group II = 3) showed no significant difference between the groups. There were no cases of nosocomial COVID-19 infections.
CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative COVID-19 screening is an important method to prevent nosocomial infections. The associated waiting time did not affect the number of preoperative ruptures or affect postoperative complications or mortality.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the perioperative clinical efficacy of preoperative human fibrinogen treatment in patients with acute Stanford type A aortic dissection (ATAAD).
METHODS: Data of 159 patients with ATAAD who underwent emergency surgical treatment in our hospital from January 2019 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into two groups according to whether human fibrinogen was administered before surgery: patients in group A received fibrinogen before surgery, while those in group B did not. The preoperative clinical data, surgical data, postoperative data, complications related to the coagulation function, and mortality of the two groups were compared and analyzed.
RESULTS: The in-hospital mortality was similar in the two groups (2.9% vs. 9.3%, p = .122). However, group A had a significantly shorter operation time (279.24 ± 39.03 vs. 298.24 ± 45.90, p = .008), lower intraoperative blood loss (240.48 ± 96.75 vs. 353.70 ± 189.80, p < .001), and reduced intraoperative transfusion requirement of red blood cells (2.61 ± 1.18 vs. 6.05 ± 1.86, p < .001). The postoperative suction drainage within 24 h in group A was significantly decreased (243.24 ± 201.52 vs. 504.22 ± 341.08, p = .002). The incidence of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in group A was lower than that in group B (3.8% vs. 14.8%, p = .023). Similarly, the incidence of postoperative hepatic insufficiency in group A was lower than that in group B (1.9% vs. 9.3%, p = .045). In group A, the mechanical ventilation time was shorter (47.68 ± 28.61 vs. 118.21 ± 173.16, p = .004) along with reduced intensive care unit stay time (4.06 ± 1.18 vs. 8.09 ± 9.42, p = .003), and postoperative hospitalization days (19.20 ± 14.60 vs. 23.50 ± 7.56, p = .004).
CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative administration of human fibrinogen in patients undergoing ATAAD surgery can effectively reduce the intraoperative blood loss, amount of blood transfused, operation time, and postoperative complications, and improve the early prognosis of patients. In addition, this procedure is highly safe.