Improvement of Severe Heart Failure after Endovascular Stent Grafting for Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm

Afterload is considered to be an important factor regulating heart failure. Aortic structure or pathology may affect afterload to various extents. However, the contribution of aortic diseases, such as aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection, to heart failure status has not been completely elucidated.Here we describe a 78-year-old patient with severe heart failure who made a dramatic recovery from cardiac decompensation following endovascular thoracic aortic aneurysm surgery. He previously underwent graft replacement for impending rupture of the descending aorta and replacement of both the mitral valve and aortic valve to address valve regurgitation. Subsequently, his left ventricular (LV) function became severely depressed (13%) and serum brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level remained high (approximately 880-3520 pg/mL). Conversely, his aortic arch was dilated to 70 mm and required surgical intervention. Despite his extremely high vascular surgery risk due to severely depressed cardiac function, stent grafting for thoracic aortic aneurysm was successfully performed. Furthermore, the severity of his depressed cardiac function and heart failure dramatically improved following stent grafting. The left ventricular ejection fraction improved from 13% presurgery to 55% postsurgery and the serum BNP level had significantly decreased to 70- 240 pg/mL. These improvements helped to alleviate the patient's heart failure symptoms, including shortness of breath.This case suggests a possible beneficial effect of aortic aneurysm repair for improving cardiac function and heart failure; our study presents a new concept of another extrinsic factor that can affect cardiac function through modulation of afterload.