{"id":5128,"date":"2025-09-15T12:46:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T10:46:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?p=5128"},"modified":"2026-05-05T13:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:29:05","slug":"cvja-2025-038","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/","title":{"rendered":"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"    <div id=\"article\">                                                                                                                        \r\n        <div id=\"title-container\">                                                                                                    \r\n        <div id=\"authors-title\">                                                                                                            \r\n        <!--Aurthors under Title-->                                                                                                            \r\n            \r\nKirushin Moodley, Mpumelelo Msimang, Kameel Maharaj                                                                                                    \r\n        <\/div>        \r\n<\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"copyright\">\r\n        <strong>Copyright:<\/strong> Clinics Cardive Publishing (Pty) Ltd. publisher\r\n        of Cardiovascular Journal of Africa.<\/div>\r\n    <div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"article-abstract\">                                                                                                            \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-title\">                                                                                                        \r\n                    Abstract                                                                                                                \r\n                <\/div>                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n            <div id=\"abstract-content\">                                                                                                        \r\n            <!--Content of Abstract Article-->                                                                                                \r\n            <!--<strong>\"Abstract titles\":<\/strong>-->                                                                                        \r\n            <!--<br\/> at the end of each section!!-->                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n        <strong>Background:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\n        Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.                                                                                                            \r\n                <br \/>                                                                                                                            \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <strong>Methods:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\n         Patients undergoing surgery for TAA over a seven- year period at a large regional referral centre in South Africa were included. Patient's demographics, surgical intervention, histopathological findings and outcomes were recorded and analysed.                                                                                                                    \r\n                <br \/>        \r\n                \r\n                <strong>Results:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\n        39 patients were included in the study. The mean age was 48.2\u00b113.7 years. The commonest risk factors were hypertension (41%, n-16), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) (41%, n-16) and smoking (20.5%, n-8). The 30-day mortality was 12.8% (n = 5) and causes of death were stroke (20%, n = 1), sepsis (20%, n = 1) and low cardiac output state (LCOS) (60%, n = 3). Histology showed cystic medial degeneration (66.7%, n = 26), atherosclerotic plaque (23.1%, n = 9) and active aortitis (10.3%, n = 4). At follow up 24 patients showed clinical improvement with no evidence of TAA recurrence. 10 patients were lost to follow up.                                                                                                                    \r\n                <br \/>\r\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <strong>Conclusion:<\/strong>                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                    \r\n        The outcomes of surgery for TAA are not directly correlated with the histological features of the excised aneurysm wall, and are more likely related to patient clinical characteristics and surgical technique.                                                                                                            \r\n                <br \/>        \r\n\r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n            <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <div id=\"keywords\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>Keywords:<\/strong>                                                                                                        \r\n                                                                                                                                            \r\n            <strong>aortic histology, aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, cystic medial degeneration, aortitis<\/strong>                                                                                                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                                \r\n    <div id=\"publish-info\">                                                                                                                    \r\n                                                                                                                                \r\n    <strong>Submitted:<\/strong> August 21, 2024; <!--Month day, year; -->    \r\n    <strong>Accepted:<\/strong> June 4, 2025; <!--Month day, year; -->                                                                            \r\n    <strong>Published:<\/strong> September 15, 2025<!--Month day, year; -->                                                                                                                            <br \/>                                                            \r\n        <em>Cardiovasc J Afr 2025; <b>36<\/b>: 289-296<!--pg no. till pg no. \"eg. 4-7\"--><\/em>\r\n        <br \/><strong>Volume 36, Issue 3<\/strong> <br \/>                                                                            \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n    <div id=\"DOI\">                                                                                                                    \r\n            DOI Citation Reference: dx.doi.org\/10.5830\/CVJA-2025-038<!--DOI number-->                                                                \r\n        <\/div>                                                                                                                            \r\n                \r\n                <div id=\"author-affiliation\">                                                                                                \r\n                                                                                                                                        \r\n                <strong>Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, College of Health Sciences, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nKirushin Moodley<br \/>\r\nKameel Maharaj\r\n<br \/><br \/>\r\n\r\n                <strong>Head of Department of Anatomical Pathology, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, College of Health Sciences, Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa\r\n\r\n<\/strong>    <br \/>                                                                            \r\nMpumelelo Msimang\r\n\r\n<br \/><br \/>\r\n                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        \r\n\r\n                [soshsc hide=\"logged\"]\r\n                <strong>You need to be <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/member-login\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">logged in to view and download<\/a> the full text PDF version. <a style=\"color: #c80c44;\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/register\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Register for a free account?<\/a><\/strong> <br \/><br \/>[\/soshsc]\r\n                \r\n                \r\n                \r\n                <\/div>\r\n    \r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cardiovascular-topics","category-volume-36-issue-3"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-15T10:46:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-05T11:29:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jaco Moolman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jaco Moolman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/\",\"name\":\"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-15T10:46:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-05T11:29:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920\"},\"description\":\"Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/\",\"name\":\"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa\",\"description\":\"The Cardiovascular Journal of Africa is a peer-reviewed medical journal publishing leading research in cardiovascular health across Africa since 1990\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920\",\"name\":\"Jaco Moolman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jaco Moolman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/author\/jacodesignconnection-co-za\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","description":"Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","og_description":"Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.","og_url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/","og_site_name":"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","article_published_time":"2025-09-15T10:46:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-05T11:29:05+00:00","author":"Jaco Moolman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jaco Moolman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/","url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/","name":"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa - Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-09-15T10:46:20+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-05T11:29:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920"},"description":"Thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Determining the clinical outcomes after the surgical repair of TAA and correlation with the histological findings may improve our approach to the disease.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/cvja-2025-038\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The clinical outcomes and histological characteristics of patients undergoing surgery for thoracic aortic aneurysms at a regional referral centre in South Africa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/","name":"Cardiovascular Journal of Africa","description":"The Cardiovascular Journal of Africa is a peer-reviewed medical journal publishing leading research in cardiovascular health across Africa since 1990","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/6bf8a30a039e93fd8112db707affb920","name":"Jaco Moolman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/454c6719ed785bfd40e036ca3c3ac3347c56b4a99902df8beb62d882b1e6967f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jaco Moolman"},"url":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/author\/jacodesignconnection-co-za\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5490,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5128\/revisions\/5490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvja.co.za\/journal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}