Baptist Health Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute performed its first advanced “aortic arch” replacement surgery using the normothermic “total arch replacement” (TAR) approach. Mehrdad Ghoreishi, M.D., co-director of aortic surgery and medical director of cardiac surgery research at Baptist Health Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute performed the first case.

This technique differs from a traditional total aortic arch replacement which needs to lower a patient’s core body temperature to as low as 20 degrees Celsius, slow down cellular activity, and allow blood circulation to be stopped for up to 40 minutes. The surgery usually takes up to seven hours.

Using the normothermic TAR approach only requires up to seven minutes of circulatory arrest without lowering a patient’s body temperature, and the surgery takes a total of only three to four hours. Patients recover more quickly and can resume their normal active lives.