The anaesthetic management of patients with thoracic ascending aortic aneurysms: A review

Thoracic aortic aneurysms present significant challenges to clinicians, especially due to their complex nature and an evolving understanding of the safest and most effective ways to manage this condition in the perioperative setting. Thoracic aortic aneurysms have a prevalence rate of 1.3–8.9% in men and 1.0–2.2% in women, and they are estimated to affect more than five per 100,000 person-years. This is notable because the complications of thoracic aortic aneurysms can be catastrophic. The current understanding of the optimal intraoperative management of thoracic aortic aneurysms is changing, as more evidence becomes available regarding lung protective ventilation and its role in enhancing patient safety and wellbeing. This review strives to provide a brief historical understanding of thoracic aortic aneurysms and highlight some of the key discoveries and advances in the management of this condition. This review then describes an overview of the general anaesthetic principles associated with thoracic aortic aneurysms, including ventilatory modalities and how these impact a patient’s physiology and intraoperative haemodynamics. A brief discussion on one-lung ventilation is then provided, drawing from current literature in the field, to describe the most up-to-date management of thoracic aortic aneurysms.