Aortic dissection presenting as isolated lower leg ischemia.
BACKGROUND
Aortic dissections that present only with symptoms of lower extremity ischemia are rare. Few case reports exist documenting this phenomenon.


OBJECTIVE
We report an unusual case of aortic dissection presenting as unilateral lower extremity pain.


METHODS
A 56-year-old man presented with left lower extremity pain of 1 h duration. He had no associated complaints. Doppler imaging revealed decreased flow in the left iliac artery, thus, initial treatment with anticoagulation was begun for presumptive obstruction. Subsequent imaging with arteriography revealed a Stanford type A/DeBakey type 1 aortic dissection. This was confirmed by computer-assisted tomography angiography, and the patient was taken to surgery for repair.


CONCLUSIONS
It is important to consider the connection between lower extremity symptoms and possible aortic dissection.
Marcantonio
Domenica
D
Department of Emergency Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA, USA.
Suri
Pawan
P
Coleman
Keel
K
Taruna
Aurora
A