New classification of aortic dissection with reference to a case report

The authors present a case report of a patient who was diagnosed with aortic dissection during a hemodynamic exam following acute myocardial infarction. With reference to this case, the European Society of Cardiology's latest classification of aortic dissection, published in 2001, is also presented. The patient had the usual risk factors described for aortic dissection, which are simultaneously those for coronary disease. The patient reported an isolated episode in the past of retrosternal pain, radiating to the back, which may have been caused by the aortic dissection. Since then he had been asymptomatic. Four years later, the patient was admitted to hospital following an anteroseptal acute myocardial infarction; fibrinolysis was contraindicated due to recent episodes of rectal bleeding and the patient underwent hemodynamic study (coronary angiography). Due to difficulties in manipulating the guide wire during this exam, aortography was performed, which showed aneurysm and Stanford type B aortic dissection of the thoracic aorta. During hospitalization, a thoracic-abdominal CT scan was performed, which confirmed chronic type B aortic dissection (with intraluminal thrombi). The authors present their reasons for considering this case to be Class 4 according to the new sub-types/classes of aortic dissection of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC): Class 1--Classical aortic dissection Class 2--Intramural hematoma/hemorrhage Class 3--Subtle/discrete aortic dissection Class 4--Plaque rupture/ulceration Class 5--Iatrogenic/traumatic aortic dissection. The authors consider this case to be of interest because of its rarity, the risk that fibrinolysis could have represented, and its categorization according to the latest classification of aortic dissection by the ESC.