Outcome of Stanford type B acute aortic dissection

The optimal timing of surgery in patients with Stanford type B aortic dissection remains controversial. This report reviews retrospectively early and long-term outcomes of patients with Stanford type B acute aortic dissections at our institute.

From April 1979 through January 1991, 75 patients were diagnosed with Stanford type B aortic dissection, and 58 of them were hospitalized within 2 weeks from onset. They were treated initially as follows: emergent surgery was performed in 13 patients for rupture or impending rupture, and the remaining 45 were treated medically. In the former group, nine patients (69%) died; in the latter, eight (18%) needed surgery because of enlargement or rupture of the aneurysm in the follow-up period, and only one of these (13%) died. Of the other 37 patients treated medically, three (8%) died within 2 weeks and seven died (19%) in the chronic phase, four of them from rupture. Among 42 discharged patients initially treated medically, rupture occurred in 11.9% (five of 42).

In acute-phase cases, surgical mortality is so high that medical treatment is preferable unless there are major complications. However, even in patients who had undergone successful initial medical treatment, expansion of the aneurysm, requiring surgery, often occurred. If careful observation reveals any sign of expansion, because elective surgery can be performed at low risk, it should be considered as soon as possible before a rupture develops.