Ascending Aortic Surgery for Small Aneurysms in Men and Women

INTRODUCTIONAccording to recent data, thoracic aortic surgery has reduced morbidity and mortality including ascending aortic aneurysm treatment; however, women are at increased postoperative risk of adverse outcomes.OBJECTIVEOur aim was to evaluate early and late outcomes in male and female patients who underwent pre-emptive ascending aortic replacement (AAR).METHODSFrom January 2013 to September 2021, 91 patients (56 [61.5%] men and 35 [38.5%] women) underwent AAR for small (ranged from 5.0 to 5.5 cm) non-syndromic aneurysms. A propensity score-based adjustment of the groups was performed. We compared clinical outcomes between males and females.RESULTSPreoperative normalized aortic diameters were significantly larger in females (2.9 [2.7; 3.2] cm/m2) than in males (2.5 [2.3; 2.6] cm/m2, P