Open thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair in expert hands: “all roads lead to Rome”

“Aortic aneurysmal disease is multifocal and needs total aortic screening for diagnosis; best results are obtained by complete replacement of all disease”, this is the most important message delivered by Dr. Crawford in the presidential address, titled ‘‘Aortic Aneurysm: A Multifocal Disease’’, during the annual International Society for Cardiovascular Surgery Conference in 1982 (1). Despite more than thirty years has elapsed this concept is still actual. Recently Corvera et al. (2) from the Indiana University in the US brought us to the past with the interesting manuscript published on the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery (JTCVS), entitled: “Open repair of chronic thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic dissection using deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest”.