Palliative stent graft placement combined with subsequent open surgery for retrograde ascending dissection intra-thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is an effective strategy for type B dissection. Retrograde ascending dissection (RAD) intra-TEVAR is a rare complication on clinic. In this case, a 48-year-old Chinese man with Stanford type B aortic dissection suffered acute RAD during the TEVAR. And palliative stent grafts placement was performed in a local hospital, which earned the time for transfer and subsequent total arch replacement surgery in Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University. This report suggests that the palliative strategy may be an option for RAD in some specific situation.