A Contemporary Review of Acute Aortic Dissection

Abstract

Acute aortic dissection is one of the most rapidly fatal clinical entities that can be encountered in the emergency department setting. Prompt establishment of the diagnosis, through focused physical examination and non-invasive imaging, followed by rapid medical and surgical therapy, are the only effective methods to alter survival in patients with acute aortic dissection. The aim of this paper is to perform an up-to-date clinical review of acute aortic dissection including its epidemiology, risk factors, clinical presentation, algorithms in establishing the diagnosis, and of available medical and surgical therapies.