IJCS | Volume 31, Nº5, September / October 2018

477 Oliveira et al. Mortality and survival in aortic arch surgeries Int J Cardiovasc Sci. 2018;31(5)466-482 Original Article showed a lower 5-year cardiovascular mortality than the group in which conventional strategies for aortic arch repair were used. No statistically significant differences were found in other time intervals. Thirty-day and 5-year overall mortality after surgery were not statistically different between the groups. Limitations Due to its retrospective anddescriptivenature, this study has some inherent limitations, such as – data collected from medical records, which involves incomplete data or data of difficult interpretation, lack of test results at hospital admission or in postoperative follow-up, in addition to unavailability of medical records from some institutions. Although the studywas conducted indifferent hospitals, all procedures analyzed in the studywere performedby the same surgical staff and, for this reason, both performance and learning curve of the techniques are linear. The study groups are very heterogeneous, which make some comparisons and analysis impossible. Also, sample size is considered small for the establishment of definitions. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the study was not designed to evaluate the best surgical strategy for aortic arch repair. This retrospective analysis of patients that had undergone aortic arch repair may add information about 30-day mortality and in-hospital mortality. In this 5-year multicentric analysis, no difference was observed regarding 30-day mortality, in-hospital mortality or survival rates between the two techniques Acknowlegements I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Mauro Paes Leme de Sá and Dr Gustavo Luiz Gouvêa de Almeida Junior, for their dedication to every stage of the study; Dr. Valdo José Carreira, for his support to the development of this study, participation in the surgical procedures of the study and authorization of access to the medical records of his patients; and Dr. Fabrício Braga da Silva, for statistical analysis of the data. Author contributions Conception and design of the research: Oliveira PF, Sá MPL, Almeida Junior GLG, Carreira VJ. Acquisition of data: Oliveira PF, Almeida Junior GLG, Carreira VJ, Rangel BSS, Silva SP. Analysis and interpretation of the data: Oliveira PF, Sá MPL, Almeida Junior GLG, Silva FB. Statistical analysis: Oliveira PF, Almeida Junior GLG, Silva FB. Obtaining financing: Oliveira PF. Writing of the manuscript: Oliveira PF, Sá MPL, Almeida Junior GLG, Silva FB. Critical revision of the manuscript for intellectual content: Oliveira PF, SáMPL, Almeida Junior GLG, Silva FB, Carreira VJ. Supervision / as the major investigador: Oliveira PF, Sá MPL, Almeida Junior GLG. Providing the database: Carreira VJ. Potential Conflict of Interest No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported. Sources of Funding This study was partially funded by CAPES. Study Association This article is part of the thesis of master submitted by Paula Ferraz de Oliveira, from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. Ethics approval and consent to participate This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. 1. Erbel R, Aboyans V, Boileau C, Bossone E, Bartolomeo RD, Eggebrecht H, et al; ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines. 2014 ESC Guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of aortic diseases: Document covering acute and chronic aortic diseases of the thoracic and abdominal aorta of the adult. The Task Force for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Aortic Diseases of the European Society of Cradiology (ESC). Eur Heart J. 2014;35(41):2873-926. 2. Sampson UK, Norman PE, Fowkes FG, Aboyans V, Song Y, Harrell FE Jr, et al. Global and regional burden of aortic dissection and aneurysms: mortality trends in 21 world regions, 1990 to 2010. Glob Heart. 2014;9(1):171-80.e10. 3. Sampson UK, Norman PE, Fowkes FG, Aboyans V, Song Y, Harrell FE Jr, et al. Estimation of global and regional incidence and prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysms 1990 to 2010. Glob Heart. 2014;9(1):159-70. 4. Dias RR, Mejia AO, Stolf NA. Cirurgia da aorta torácica. In: Serrano CV Jr, Timerman A, Stefanini E. (eds). Tratado de cardiologia SOCESP. 2ª ed. Barueri (SP): Manole; 2009. p. 2018-29. 5. Carreira VJ, Oliveira DM, Pinheiro AP, Duarte J, Magalhães F, Pinheiro IT, et al. Técnica de Carreira: uma nova técnica para cirurgia do arco aórtico com perfusão cerebral seletiva anterógrada e bilateral através do References