In total aortic arch replacement (TARCH) using hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) and selective cerebral perfusion (SCP), postoperative cerebral complications, including metabolic abnormalities, are by no means rare. Furthermore, there is a lack of international guidelines for the optimal perfusion temperature and flow for SCP. Starting in 2008, TARCH was performed using tepid HCA at 32 °C. In the present study, 27 patients (group C) who underwent TARCH with deep hypothermia at the lowest rectal temperatures of 20-25 °C were retrospectively reviewed and compared with 23 patients (group W) who underwent TARCH with 32 °C tepid hypothermia. Preoperative patient characteristics and intraoperative and postoperative parameters were compared. Preoperative patient characteristics did not differ significantly between the two groups. Circulatory arrest time, cardiopulmonary bypass time, operating time, amount of blood transfused and postoperative neurological complications were significantly reduced in group W compared with group C. Our procedure of TARCH using tepid hypothermia at 32 °C was safe, and it significantly reduced all parameters of extracorporeal circulation time. However, this study has several limitations. To indicate the safety and usefulness of tepid HCA for TARCH, a further multifaceted study should be performed with a greater number of patients.

Despite the presence of severe preoperative comorbidities in this series, good surgical outcome was obtained. Almost all the patients were able to drink water and walk very soon after surgery, suggesting the potential of this protocol as one-day or day surgery. Awake OPCAB is a promising modality of ultra-minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

Pseudocoarctation is a rare anomaly involving kinking or buckling of the aorta without a pressure gradient across the lesion, considered to be a benign entity warranting no specific intervention. An uncommon case of pseudocoarctation associated with aortic aneurysm formation in 21-year-old woman is described. Pathological findings suggested that the etiology was anomalous development of the aorta in association with pseudocoarctation; therefore, careful follow-up of patients affected by pseudocoarctation is mandatory.

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Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), a disease process which leads to arterial stenosis and aneurysm formation, has been reported to occur in almost every arterial bed in the body. However, multivisceral FMD is rare, and we report a 43-year-old woman with hypertension who had incidental finding of FMD of both renal arteries and the superior mesenteric artery (SMA). The left renal aneurysms and right renal stenosis were successfully treated by aneurysm resection and aortorenal bypass and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, respectively. The asymptomatic FMD of the SMA was treated conservatively. The indications for intervention in patients with asymptomatic FMD have not been clarified till date, and we therefore advise a close surveillance program.