Aortic dissection

Diagnosis

Due to its symptoms which are like those of other health problems, it might be hard to detect an aortic dissection. However, these following symptoms are potential indicators of the disease.

• Pain in the chest which rises suddenly with a tearing or ripping feeling
• The right and left arms have different blood pressure levels
• A widened aorta found during a chest X-ray

Aortic dissection can be diagnosed by many approaches, including:

• Transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE): this echocardiogram uses a transducer which is an ultrasound probe sent to the esophagus and then to the heart to create clear and detailed pictures of the aorta while it is moving, using sound waves.
• Computerized tomography (CT): in this procedure, the chest is scanned with an X-ray to let your doctor see cross-sectional images of the body and diagnose aortic dissection.
• Magnetic resonance angiogram (MRA): this test shows images of blood vessels using a magnetic field and radio waves.

Treatment

Aortic dissection is a life-threatening condition, immediately treatment is required. Aortic dissection can be treated surgically or medically. The best option will be selected by your medical team based on which part of the aorta is affected.

Type A aortic dissection

Type A aortic dissection can be treated in the following ways:

• Surgery: the purpose is to remove the affected part of the aorta as much as possible and to fix the blood leaking in the aortic wall with a graft. The graft can also be used to replace the impaired aortic valve with a new valve during surgery.
• Medications: the doctor might prescribe medications to make the blood pressure stable before receiving surgery or slow down the progress of the aortic dissection as the medications help lower the heart rate and prevent hypertension.

Type B aortic dissection

Type B aortic dissection can be treated in the following ways:

• Surgery: The surgery procedure to treat type A and B dissections are similar. However, for type B, the doctor might also use wire mesh tubes to fix the impaired aorta with complicated dissection conditions.
• Medications: Both type A and B aortic dissections might be treated with the same medications. In type B, however, surgery might not be necessary.
• Monitoring: In both type of aortic dissection, the doctor may require you to control the blood pressure as well as receive CT scans or MRI scans from time to time to monitor your conditions.