Use of cuffed anastomosis in total aortic arch replacement.

The distal aortic anastomosis portion of the total arch surgery remains technically complex especially in cases in which an aortic arch aneurysm extends below level of carina. We present the cuffed anastomosis that overcomes this difficulty. We applied this technique in 49 patients of elective total aortic arch aneurysm repair using selective cerebral perfusion from 1996 to 2001. Hospital mortality was 2%.