HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Zeebregts, C. J. Articles by Vermeulen, F. E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Zeebregts, C. J. Articles by Vermeulen, F. E.

European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Vol 12, 513-515, Copyright © 1997 by European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery

ARTICLES

Spontaneous resolution late after aortic dissection

CJ Zeebregts, MA Schepens and FE Vermeulen
Department of Surgery, University Hospital, Groningen, The Netherlands.

A 50-year-old man was operated on for acute type I (DeBakey classification) aortic dissection. The supracoronary ascending aorta was replaced with an interposition graft. Postoperative computed tomography and angiography clearly revealed a double-barrelled aortic arch, left common carotid artery and descending thoracoabdominal aorta with contrast filling of both true and false lumen starting from the distal anastomosis. The same finding was noted at 1 year follow-up with severe compression of the true lumen by the false lumen. At this time, anticoagulation therapy was stopped. One year later, computed tomography showed spontaneous resolution of the dissection in the aortic arch, left common carotid artery and descending aorta over its full length. This was confirmed by angiography. This case reports illustrates that spontaneous resolution of a dissected descending aorta can occur late after surgery from type 1 dissection, but it remains very rare.