What is the most common presenting symptom reported in patients with acute aortic dissection?
The most common presenting symptom of acute aortic dissection is chest pain which accounts for 79 percent of type A dissections and 63 percent of type B dissections. 6) The character of the pain in aortic dissection is typically sharp, tearing, and ripping with an abrupt onset.
What is the pathophysiology of aortic dissection?
Pathophysiology of Aortic Dissection The pathophysiologic sequence of aortic dissections involves aortic wall inflammation, apoptosis of vascular smooth muscle cells, degeneration of aortic media, elastin disruption, and then vessel dissection.
What are the clinical findings in a patient with a dissecting aneurysm?
Sudden severe chest or upper back pain, often described as a tearing or ripping sensation, that spreads to the neck or down the back. Sudden severe stomach pain. Loss of consciousness. Shortness of breath.
What is a Type B aortic dissection?
Aortic dissections are classified into two types: type B dissection involves a tear in the descending part of the aorta and may extend into the abdomen, whereas type A dissection develops in the ascending part of the aorta just as it branches off the heart.
How is type B aortic dissection treated?
Medical management is generally the preferred treatment for uncomplicated type B acute aortic dissection cases. It is often centered on the use of antihypertensive agents, which alleviates hemodynamic stress on the damaged aortic wall.
How long can you live with type B aortic dissection?
Despite adequate antihypertensive therapy, the long-term prognosis of these patients is characterized by a significant aortic aneurysm formation in 25-30% within four years, and survival rates from 50 to 80% at five years and 30 to 60% at 10 years.
What is a Type A and Type B aortic dissection?
What is the prognosis of aortic dissection?
Aortic dissection is relatively uncommon. The condition most frequently occurs in men in their 60s and 70s. Symptoms of aortic dissection may mimic those of other diseases, often leading to delays in diagnosis. However, when an aortic dissection is detected early and treated promptly, the chance of survival greatly improves.
What is a type A dissection?
Type A Aortic Dissection. If the aortic dissection occurs in the ascending aorta, the curved part of the aorta that extends upward from the heart, it’s called a type A aortic dissection. A type A tear may extend along the upper part of the aorta and down toward the abdomen.
What is acute aortic dissection?
In this Article. An aortic dissection is an emergency with your aorta, which is the largest blood vessel in your body and the main artery that takes blood from your heart to the rest of your body. During an aortic dissection the inner layer of your aorta tears, letting blood in where it usually doesn’t go.