The “untimely bomb” in the body

  Recently, our department admitted a patient with total aortic arch rupture, which is a very dangerous disease, an “untimely bomb”, with high mortality, easy to misdiagnose, and the true incidence is often underestimated. Aortic coarctation is an intramural hematoma caused by a tear in the intima of the aortic wall due to various causes, and the formation of an intramural hematoma between the intima and the middle and outer layers due to high pressure arterial blood flow peeling off along this level.  The common causes include hypertension, atherosclerosis, medical injury, inflammation, and Marfan’s syndrome, with hypertension and atherosclerosis being the most common. Patients with hypertension enter the age of predilection for entrapment aneurysms 10 to 15 years after the onset of the disease.  Another common cause is Marfan’s syndrome, which is a congenital hereditary disease. Patients with slender bodies and certain advantages in sports often die of aneurysm rupture in their youth, which is also called “athlete killer”. Zhu Gang, the former national player of men’s volleyball in China, and Hyman, the famous American volleyball player, died of this disease.  The disease has a rapid onset, with catastrophic consequences in a short period of time. The misdiagnosis rate is so high that the true incidence is difficult to determine because many patients die before being diagnosed. The annual incidence in the West is estimated to be between 0.2% and 0.8%, which is much higher than the number of clinically confirmed cases. Satisfaction with the diagnosis of myocardial infarction, hypertensive emergencies, and acute pulmonary infarction is a common cause of delayed diagnosis of this disease.  In this patient’s condition, the traditional surgical mode of aortic arch replacement is not only risky and has a high mortality rate, but also has many complications and a poor prognosis. After consulting a large amount of domestic and foreign related literature, the medical staff of our department organized a department-wide review and repeated discussions, and came up with an innovative and bold new surgical plan.  Using the advanced “one-stop operating room” of our department, we teamed up with the Department of Thoracic Surgery to perform open-chest bridging of the ascending aorta – the unnamed artery, the ascending aorta – the left common carotid artery, and the left common carotid artery – the left subclavian artery, and then perform minimally invasive intracavitary isolation surgery and insert stent-type artificial blood vessels to ensure the smooth flow of blood to the brain. Through one difficult surgery, we were able to complete the surgery that needed to be performed twice, which greatly reduced the medical cost and pain of the patient, and maintained the 100% success rate of the large artery surgery in our department. Ms. Hu healed well after surgery and was discharged from the hospital.  The success of the above patient’s surgery was attributed to the “one-stop” technology. The modern “one-stop” technology concept is to use a hybrid operating room where imaging and conventional vascular surgery can be performed simultaneously. Both imaging and interventional procedures are performed simultaneously in the same room, and the results of the procedure can be monitored in real time for immediate evaluation of the imaging and interventional treatment. The “one-stop” hybridization allows patients to avoid the risks associated with multiple anesthesia and departmental transfers between the interventional unit and the operating room.  In a sense, it achieves a “one-stop-shop” treatment effect. The “one-stop” hybrid operating room is not a simple patchwork of departments, but a vascular surgeon with comprehensive knowledge of vascular surgery, intervention, diagnostic imaging, etc., supported by a variety of specialized equipment. Many patients with very complicated conditions have been treated satisfactorily here, maximizing patient benefits. The establishment of the “one-stop” hybrid operating room not only provides a safer and more reliable treatment platform for patients, but also provides a platform for mutual exchange and learning for multidisciplinary development.