Chest
Clinical InvestigationsNasal-Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Reduces Pulmonary Morbidity and Length of Hospital Stay Following Thoracoabdominal Aortic Surgery
Section snippets
Materials and Methods
The study was approved by the committee of medical ethics of the Heinrich-Heine-University of Düsseldorf and was conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. Patients who are scheduled for elective surgical repair of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms of types I to III, according to the Crawford classification, were eligible for the study. All consecutive patients who had undergone surgery during 1 year were informed about the study and, in brief, were
Results
We recruited 56 consecutive patients following elective prosthetic replacement of the thoracoabdominal aorta. Six patients were excluded because they could not be extubated within < 48 h. Of these, five patients developed paraplegia, and four of them died, while the other two patients survived after prolonged intensive care therapy.
Accordingly, 50 patients were randomized (control group, 25 patients; study group, 25 patients). The subcategories of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (using the
Discussion
The natural history of patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms that have not been surgically treated is characterized by a poor outcome. In four large studies,3, 13, 14, 15 it was shown that rupture rates are within the range of 42 to 73% within the first years following diagnosis. The 5-year survival rates in these cohorts were 13 to 39% with rupture of the aneurysm being the most common cause of death.3, 13, 14, 15 Some studies 3 have shown that the extent of the aneurysm, as
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