Successful in situ treatment of an infected ascending aortic graft

Infection of an ascending aortic prosthesis is a grave complication associa ted with a high mortality. In most cases, extraanatomic bypass and removal of the infected vascular graft are not possible. Furthermore, the standard approach to this problem, which includes excision and replacement or debrid ement and repair of infected thoracic aortic grafts, carries a high early m ortality. We report the successful treatment of this life-threatening compl ication using a conservative strategy in which the aortic prosthesis was sa lvaged by in situ disinfection followed by coverage with tissue naps. (C) 2 000 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.