| Abstract
| - Hypothermic circulatory arrest and selective cerebral perfusion foraortic arch surgery have been reported, but these procedures are of limitedduration, require hazardous and complicated techniques and can cause clampinjury. Continuous retrograde cerebral perfusion (CRCP) is a new and simpletechnique for the protection of the brain during hypothermic circulatoryarrest. We applied CRCP in 26 patients who underwent aortic arch surgery.Continuous retrograde cerebral perfusion was performed with a mean bloodflow of 383 +/- 176, range 120-800, ml/min. The mean duration of CRCP was63 +/- 15, range 32-92, min with the superior vena cava pressure at 15-42mm Hg. No neurologic deficit was observed in 20 patients (90%) and onlyminor deficits in 2 out of the 22 cases without severe postoperativecomplications, allowing evaluation of the effectiveness of CRCP. Fourpatients had other severe complications, and the effectiveness of themethod could not be evaluated. Continuous retrograde cerebral perfusion canbe an excellent and safe technique which avoids clamp injury during aorticarch surgery.
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