Haemolytic anaemia resulting from the surgical repair of acute type A aortic dissection.

OBJECTIVES Haemolytic anaemia after acute aortic dissection surgery is extremely rare. We report 4 cases of haemolytic anaemia with different aetiologies. METHODS Four patients underwent emergency operation for acute type A aortic dissection and subsequently developed haemolytic anaemia. RESULTS Case 1: a 41-year old man underwent hemiarch replacement. We performed total arch replacement 3 years postoperatively, which revealed that haemolytic anaemia was induced by proximal anastomotic stenosis caused by inverted internal felt strip. Case 2: a 28-year old man diagnosed with Marfan syndrome underwent total arch replacement. Five months postoperatively, we noted severe stenosis at the previous distal anastomotic site, which caused the haemolytic anaemia, and performed descending thoracic aortic replacement for a residual dissecting aneurysm. Case 3: a 49-year old man underwent hemiarch replacement. Three years postoperatively, we performed total arch replacement for a residual dissecting aortic arch aneurysm and repaired a kinked graft responsible for haemolytic anaemia. Case 4: a 42-year old man underwent total arch replacement. Eighteen months later, we performed descending thoracic aortic replacement. We repaired a portion of the ascending aorta as haemolityc anaemia was induced by kinking of a total arch replacement redundant graft. CONCLUSIONS All the haemolityc anaemia patients were successfully released after surgical reintervention.