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Published on: December 2, 2014
Spontaneous rupture of the ascending aorta
Syed Usman Bin Mahmood1, Andrew Ulrich2, Basmah Safdar2
1Section of Cardiac Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
Background:
Nontraumatic, spontaneous rupture of the ascending aorta is rare and the etiology is largely unknown.
Methods:
We reviewed seven patients from our institution, with no known aortic disease or hereditary connective tissue disorder that presented with spontaneous ascending aortic rupture from 2012 to 2017.
Results:
Most patients presented with non-radiating chest pain along with hypertension (71.4%). The mean ascending aortic diameter at rupture was 4.60 ± 0.62 cm. The median door-to-operating room time was 2.58 h, resulting from effective implementation of an aortic emergency protocol. There were no operative mortalities.
Conclusions:
In patients with ascending aortic rupture, aortic diameter may not always correlate with the risk of rupture. Rapid diagnosis combined with a multidisciplinary approach is vital for the successful management of these high-risk patients.
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