Management of a complicated redo giant dissecting aortic aneurysm

Summary

Giant aortic aneurysm is defined as an aneurysm of the aorta of greater than 10 cm in diameter. This rare condition is associated with a high risk of morbidity and mortality and it may lead to fatal complications such as rupture and/or dissection if not managed with proper surgical planning and expertise. Other than atherosclerosis, the main causes of giant ascending aortic aneurysms include Marfan and Ehlers–Danhlos syndromes. Herein we report on a young male patient who had had an aortic valve replacement five years earlier due to a bicuspid aortic valve leading to aortic failure, accompanied by aortic coarctation. He had an aneurysmal expansion rate of 1.81 cm/year to reach a final aneurysmal diameter of 13.25 cm, which, to our knowledge, represents the largest size ever reported in the literature for such lesions, and in which the redo and aneurysmal wall were adjacent to the sternal margins.