Cardiology · Pathway 62
Aortic Dissection
Key points
- Associations: hypertension · trauma · bicuspid aortic valve · Marfan's/Ehlers-Danlos · Turner's/Noonan's · pregnancy · syphilis.
- Features: severe 'tearing' chest pain radiating to back · aortic regurgitation · hypertension; branch involvement → angina (coronary), paraplegia (spinal), limb ischaemia (distal aorta).
- Stanford: type A = ascending aorta (2/3 of cases); type B = descending, distal to left subclavian (1/3).
- DeBakey: I = ascending + propagates to arch/beyond · II = confined to ascending · III = descending, extends distally.
Decision points in this pathway
- Which segment involved?
The full step-by-step algorithm, including what to do at each branch, opens in the app for approved members.