Spinal cord injury remains a major adverse event of extended thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic surgical procedures. Preoperative identification of the Adamkiewicz artery and prompt reattachment of the targeted intercostal arteries during operation should contribute to preventing spinal cord injury. In this report, we describe a simple and definite identification of the critical intercostal artery during extended descending and thoracoabdominal aortic surgical procedures.
Copyright © 2017 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.