Diseases of the thoracic aorta

Abstract

Advances in imaging technologies have revealed an entire spectrum of aortic disease where previously we saw only aortic dissection. The moniker acute aortic syndrome is now applied to aortic dissection, intramural hematoma (IMH), and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer of the aorta (PAU).1 Collectively, acute aortic syndromes remain highly lethal conditions for which medical therapy is imperfect and for which surgical treatment carries significant risk. © 2008 Springer New York.