Successful treatment of a patient with type-A acute aortic dissection with emergent percutaneous coronary intervention and thoracic endovascular aortic repair under percutaneous cardiopulmonary support: a case report

Type-A acute aortic dissection (AAD) with acute coronary involvement can be instantly fatal. The patient’s haemodynamics can easily collapse, so rapid decisions regarding treatment strategy are essential.

A 76-year-old man requested an ambulance because of sudden back pain and paraplegia. He was admitted to the emergency room with cardiogenic shock due to acute myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation. Computed tomography angiography revealed a thrombosed AAD from the ascending to the distal aorta after the renal artery bifurcation, suggesting a retrograde DeBakey type IIIb (DeBakey IIIb + r, Stanford type-A) dissection. He suddenly developed ventricular fibrillation with cardiac arrest and haemodynamic collapse. We thus performed percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and thoracic endovascular aortic repair under percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (PCPS). Percutaneous cardiopulmonary support and respiratory support were withdrawn 5 and 12 days after admission, respectively. The patient was transferred to the general ward on Day 28; he was eventually discharged to a rehabilitation hospital on Day 60, having recovered completely.

Immediate decisions regarding treatment strategy are essential. Non-invasive emergent treatment strategies (such as PCI and TEVAR under PCPS) may be options for critically ill patients with type-A AAD.