Chronic type A aortic dissection incidentally detected in a 71 year-old woman

Abstract

Aortic dissection is a sudden event when the intimal tear occurs, blood penetrates the aortic wall through and the dissection propagates. Acute aortic dissection presents with chest pain, hemodynamic instability, absent or unequal peripheral pulses, various neurologic complications and aortic regurgitation. Noninvasive testing (echocardiography, computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging) allows an accurate diagnosis to be made. Ascending aortic dissection often require surgery or stent-grafts, depending on their size and location. We present a case of a 71 year-old woman with an asymptomatic chronic type “A” dissection of aorta of total length, incidentally detected during ultrasonographic imaging, qualified for surgery treatment.