The Medical Treatment of Dissecting Aortic Aneurysms

Abstract

Medical treatment of a group of 33 patients with dissecting aortic aneurysms resulted in 17 survivors (52 per cent) with a mean follow-up period of 43 months. In-hospital survival was influenced favorably by the presence of a subacute or chronic dissection (onset of symptoms 14 days or longer before presentation for treatment) although long-term survival was similar to that of patients with acute dissections. Patients who failed to show communication between the true and false lumens at the time of their initial angiograms had significantly better survival than those with such a communication (p less than 0.05) and also showed no tendency for late expansion of the aorta at the site of the dissection.