[Successful treatment of a 97-year-old female with acute aortic dissection (DeBakey type II); report of a case].

: We operated on an advanced aged patient who presented with acute aortic dissection (DeBakey type II). The patient was a 97-year-old female who was admitted to our hospital due to chest pain. We initially administered conservative medical therapy as far as possible. However, due to the continuing chest pain and the fact that the diameter of the aneurysm was quite large and the risk of a rupture was high, we therefore decided to operate on the ascending graft replacement using retrograde cerebral perfusion on the 8th day from onset. Sufficiently controlling the bleeding proved to be difficult because the site of cannulation on the right atrium was fragile and it therefore tended to split easily. The postoperative course was uneventful except for the fact that it took the patient longer than usual to wake up from anesthesia. As far as could be determined based on an extensive search of the pertinent literature, this appears to be the most advanced aged case of an operation for acute aortic dissection ever reported in Japan.