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Earl TJ, Poppas A. Type A Aortic Dissection Presenting with Acute Lower Extremity Vascular Insufficiency in the Absence of Chest Pain. Open J Cardiovasc Surg. 2012;5:1-4doi: 10.4137/OJCS.S8042.
Earl, T. J., & Poppas, A. (2012). Type A Aortic Dissection Presenting with Acute Lower Extremity Vascular Insufficiency in the Absence of Chest Pain. Open journal of cardiovascular surgery, 51-4. https://doi.org/10.4137/OJCS.S8042
Earl, Thomas J, and Poppas, Athena. "Type A Aortic Dissection Presenting with Acute Lower Extremity Vascular Insufficiency in the Absence of Chest Pain." Open journal of cardiovascular surgery vol. 5 (2012): 1-4. doi: https://doi.org/10.4137/OJCS.S8042
Earl TJ, Poppas A. Type A Aortic Dissection Presenting with Acute Lower Extremity Vascular Insufficiency in the Absence of Chest Pain. Open J Cardiovasc Surg. 2012 Feb 13;5:1-4. doi: 10.4137/OJCS.S8042. eCollection 2012. PMID: 26949339; PMCID: PMC4767118.
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Open J Cardiovasc Surg. 2012 Feb 13;5:1-4. doi: 10.4137/OJCS.S8042. eCollection 2012.

Type A Aortic Dissection Presenting with Acute Lower Extremity Vascular Insufficiency in the Absence of Chest Pain.

Open journal of cardiovascular surgery

Thomas J Earl, Athena Poppas

Affiliations

  1. Rhode Island Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Division of Cardiology, Rhode Island, USA.

PMID: 26949339 PMCID: PMC4767118 DOI: 10.4137/OJCS.S8042

Abstract

We report a case of a 53 year-old man with a history of hypertension presenting with acute left lower extremity parasthesias and pulselessness initially presumed to be secondary to arterial thrombosis or embolism. Work-up included a transthoracic echocardiogram which revealed an aortic dissection at the level of the aortic root extending to the visualized portions of the descending aorta. Type A aortic dissections are relatively rare, with the vast majority of patients presenting with chest pain. Timely diagnosis of Type A aortic dissections are critical as to facilitate rapid surgical repair. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a painless Type A aortic dissection presenting with isolated lower extremity vascular insufficiency and demonstrates the potential role of transthoracic echocardiography as a rapid, non-invasive bedside modality in visualizing Type A aortic dissections.

Keywords: painless aortic dissection

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