Gender-specific differences in ascending aortic surgery

Abstract

Introduction. According to recent data, thoracic aortic surgery have reduced morbidity and mortality, however, women are at increased postoperative risk of adverse outcomes. Our aim was to evaluate and compare early outcomes in male and female patients undergoing ascending aortic replacement.Methods. A total of 88 patients, consisting of 54 men (61.4%) and 34 women (38.6%) underwent ascending aortic surgery for non-syndromic aneurysms from January 2013 to December 2021. We analyzed clinical outcomes between males and females.Results. According to computed tomographic angiography, preoperative normalized aortic diameters were significantly larger in females (2.9 [2.7; 3.2] cm/m2) vs. (2.5 [2.3; 2.6] cm/m2, p < 0.001) in males, without differences in absolute values (51 [49; 53] mm vs. 52 [50; 53] mm, p = 0.356). There were no significant differences in neurological, cardiac, pulmonary, and renal complications in both groups in the early postoperative period. In-hospital mortality was 1.9% and 5.9% (p = 0.307) in male and female patients, respectively.Conclusions. Ascending aortic surgery for aneurysms below 5.5 cm threshold has tolerable early outcomes both in men and women.