A technique to control the deleterious effects of retrograde blood flow and to improve myocardial protection in surgery of acute dissection of the ascending aorta.

In surgery of the acute dissection of the ascending aorta, a technique is described for routine cannulation through a Dacron graft in order to produce antegrade flow in the true aortic lumen and higher pressures than in the false lumen. This is a useful method to avoid the deleterious effects of the retrograde blood flow through the false lumen, when femoral cannulation is used, as well as to improve the myocardial protection by reperfusing the myocardium while the graft distal end anastomosis is carried out.