The frozen elephant trunk: an overview of hybrid prostheses

INTRODUCTION: Thoracic aortic pathologies implicating the aortic arch and the descending thoracic aorta (DTA) are primarily managed with total aortic arch replacement (TAR). This can be performed as a single-procedure hybrid fashion using the frozen elephant trunk technique (FET), which utilizes hybrid prosthesis. Nevertheless, FET presents certain challenges such as distal stent graft-induced new entry (dSINE), negative aortic remodeling, and reintervention. AREAS COVERED: The narrative review provides an overview of the four majors FET prosthesis, highlighting their design features, mechanical properties, configurations, and variants, and evaluating their clinical outcomes reported in the literature. The leading prosthesises were compared through their mortality and survival rates, neurological outcomes, dSINE, aortic remodeling, and reintervention rates. EXPERT OPINION: Four FET devices can be considered the main option on the global market; Thoraflex, E-Vita, Cronus, and Frozenix J Graft. Each hybrid prosthesis (HP) features unique design characteristics, resulting in varying clinical outcomes. Thoraflex and E-Vita are the most widely used and investigated HPs, whilst the use of Cronus and Frozenix is geographically confined to mainly manufacturers' countries. The rates of early mortality, stroke, SCI, dSINE, and reintervention rates were found to be comparable among the four devices, yet, Thoraflex seemed to offer the most optimal clinical profile.