Association between Duration of Deep Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest and Surgical Outcome in Patients with Acute Type A Aortic Dissection: A Large Retrospective Cohort Study

(1) Background: Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) with selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (ACP) is an established cerebral protection technique for the conduction of complex surgical procedures involving the aortic arch. It is controversial whether the duration of DHCA is associated with adverse outcome in patients with acute type A aortic dissection (AAAD). Our goal was to investigate whether DHCA time was associated with surgical outcome in patients undergoing a surgical treatment of AAAD. (2) Methods: A total of 410 patients were divided into two groups based on the DHCA time less than 60 min and equal to or longer than 60 min. (3) Results: Patients with longer DHCA times were significantly younger (p = 0.001). Intraoperatively, complex procedures with aortic arch surgery were more common in patients with longer DHCA times (p < 0.001). Accordingly, cardiopulmonary bypass (p < 0.001), cross-clamping (p < 0.001) and DHCA times (p < 0.001) were significantly longer in this group. Postoperatively, only the duration of mechanical ventilation (p < 0.001) and the rate of tracheotomy were significantly higher in these patients. Thirty-day mortality was satisfactory for both groups (p = 0.746). (4) Conclusions: Our results showed that improvements in perioperative management including ACP allow for the successful performance of surgical treatment of AAAD under DHCA with a duration of even longer than 60 min.