In aortic surgery involving shaggy aorta, surgical strategy to avoid embolism is crucial for each case. We applied the frozen elephant trunk technique to a patient with shaggy aorta. A 79-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for conservative treatment of acute Type B aortic dissection. Dissecting aneurysms of the aortic arch and descending aorta were shown to have rapidly dilated according to CT three weeks later. Preoperative contrast CT showed an ulcerated shaggy aorta from the aortic arch to the mid portion of the descending aorta. To utilize the benefit of the stent compared with the classical elephant trunk technique, we proposed that the frozen elephant trunk technique would be helpful in prevention of embolism. We therefore planned total arch replacement with the frozen elephant trunk technique and performed thoracic endovascular aortic repair. We employed the frozen elephant trunk technique in the first operation and balloon protection of the superior mesenteric artery and the renal artery in the second operation. The patient had an uneventful postoperative course without thromboembolism. The frozen elephant trunk technique may be helpful for patients with shaggy aorta to avoid thromboembolic events.

A 44-year-old man had been pointed out to have a heart murmur during his elementary school days. He came to us complaining of chest pain and palpitation. He was diagnosed to have severe aortic regurgitation caused by prolapse of the right coronary cusp, and the left ventricular function was depressed. At surgery, the aortic valve was repaired with the RCC resuspension technique, but regurgitation was not controlled because the RCC annulus was retracted by natural supracristal closure of the ventricular septal defect. We proceeded to the Ross procedure. A pulmonary autograft was harvested and sewed in the aortic annulus. The right ventricular outflow tract was reconstructed using a stentless bioprosthetic valve with glutaraldehyde-treated bovine pericardium. He was discharged after a straightforward postoperative course.