Management of complicated and uncomplicated acute type B dissection. A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The management of acute type B dissection represents a clinical challenge. We undertook a systematic review of the available literature regarding medical, surgical and endovascular treatments of acute type B aortic dissection and combined the eligible studies into a meta-analysis.
Methods: An extensive electronic health database search was performed on all articles published from January 2006 up to November 2013 describing the management of acute type B aortic dissection. Studies including less than 15 patients were excluded.
Results: Acute complicated type B dissection: overall, 2,531 patients were treated with endovascular repair (TEVAR) and the pooled rate for 30-day/in-hospital mortality was 7.3%. The pooled estimates for cerebrovascular events, spinal cord ischemia (SCI) and total neurologic events were 3.9%, 3.1% and 7.3%, respectively. A total of 1,276 patients underwent open surgical repair and the pooled rate for 30-day/inhospital mortality was 19.0%. The pooled rate for cerebrovascular events was 6.8%, for SCI 3.3% and for total neurologic complications 9.8%. Acute uncomplicated type B dissection: outcome of 2,347 patients who underwent conservative medical management were analyzed. The pooled 30-day/in-hospital mortality rate was 2.4%. The pooled rate for cerebrovascular events was 1%, for SCI 0.8% and for overall neurologic complications 2%.
Conclusions: Endovascular repair provides a superior 30-day/in-hospital survival for acute complicated type B aortic dissection compared to surgical aortic reconstruction. However, open repair still has a significant role as endovascular repair is not applicable in all patients and there remains concerns regarding the durability of this technique. TEVAR seems to have a more favorable outcome regarding aortic remodeling and the aorticspecific survival rate when compared with medical therapy alone. Randomized controlled trials focusing on the prognostic factors of early and late complications in uncomplicated type B dissections are needed.