Duke offers surgical treatment in a high-volume center with surgeons sub-specializing in the treatment of thoracic aortic disease.

Open surgical repair of aortic disease usually replaces the diseased section of aorta with a prosthetic graft, although treatment is sometimes possible without replacing the section completely.

Click a condition for more information about surgical techniques offered:

• Aortic root aneurysms
• Ascending aortic aneurysms
• Aortic arch aneurysms
• Descending aortic aneurysms
• Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms
• Pseudoaneurysms
• Aortic dissections
• Penetrating atherosclerotic ulcers
• Intramural hematomas
• Congenital abnormalities such as coarctation of the aorta

Neurological Monitoring

Historically the risk of neurologic injury during surgical treatment of thoracic aortic disease has been of concern.

At Duke, neurologists specializing in monitoring of the central nervous system are present in the operating room during surgery to immediately detect potential problems as they arise.

This immediate detection offers the best potential for correction and avoidance of adverse neurologic outcomes.

Duke is the only center in the Southeast employing online central nervous system monitoring with electroencephalogram (EEG) to guide cooling and perfusion strategies for the use of DHCA in repair of thoracic aortic disease.

For descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic operations, somatosensory (SSEPs) and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) are used to allow the immediate detection of problems related to the spinal cord. As with EEG, Duke is the only center in the Southeast employing online spinal cord monitoring with both SSEPs and MEPs during all open and endovascular thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic procedures.

Physicians

Physicians offering this service include:

• Gaca, Jeffrey G.
  
  • Surgery / Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
• Hughes, G. Chad
  
  • Surgery / Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
• McCann, Richard L.
  
  • Surgery / General Surgery

Locations

This service is available at:

• Duke Cardiothoracic Surgery
  Duke Clinic 2B, 200 Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710
• Duke Vascular Surgery
  Duke Clinic 2B, 200 Trent Drive, Durham, NC 27710