[Painless aortic dissection: the problem of early diagnosis. A case report]

Painless aortic dissections occur very rarely, the absence of the important cardinal symptom "pain" may cause a delayed establishment of diagnosis. As early operation improves prognosis, this delay may have harmful consequences for the patient. The case reported presented initially only with neurological symptoms and later with blood pressure instabilities. Nevertheless, the diagnosis has been established within 48 h, but the patient did not survive operative emergency treatment.