Anaesthesia for thoracic and thoraco-abdominal aortic disease-Part 1: Basic sciences, presentation and pre-operative preparation

This is the first of two articles that describe the anaesthetic management of thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic disease in which the relevant anatomy, pathogenesis, medical management and pre-operative preparation of patients is presented. Lesions of the thoracic aorta are varied and include aortic dissection, aneurysmal aortic dilation, traumatic aortic rupture and coarctation of the aorta. Our focus will be on the first two lesions, as they are the most common in clinical practice.