Computed Tomography Imaging Findings of Acute Aortic Pathologies

Authors

Elif S. Duran, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Farhan Ahmad
Mohamed Elshikh
Irfan Masood
Cihan Duran

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-2019

Abstract

Acute aortic syndromes (AAS) encompass a spectrum of life-threatening conditions characterized by acute aortic pain. AAS include acute aortic dissection, intramural hematoma, penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer, and aneurysm rupture. The prognosis of AAS is clearly related to prompt diagnosis and appropriate management. The different types of AAS cannot be reliably differentiated solely based on clinical presentation since the clinical features are indistinguishable. Multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) with electrocardiographic gating (ECG-gated MDCT) has been used in the acute emergency setting as a powerful clinical tool, which enables rapid and specific diagnosis of aortic pathologies. ECG-gated MDCT significantly reduces motion artifact and avoids potential pitfalls in the diagnosis of AAS. The aim of this review is to evaluate the role of MDCT imaging in the assessment of AAS and to discuss the differentiation of this spectrum of aortic diseases with reference to the key imaging findings.

Comments

Copyright © 2019, Duran et al.

Recommended Citation

Duran, E. S., Ahmad, F., Elshikh, M., Masood, I., & Duran, C. (2019). Computed Tomography Imaging Findings of Acute Aortic Pathologies. Cureus, 11(8), e5534. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.5534

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Cureus

DOI

10.7759/cureus.5534

Academic Level

faculty