title: CT angiography of the thoracic aorta.
abstract: Patients with thoracic aortic diseases may be completely asymptomatic (as in thoracic aortic aneurysms) or present acutely with severe chest pain (as in acute aortic dissections). Thoracic aortic disease is often occult until a life-threatening complication occurs or the disease is discovered incidentally on imaging. Multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) can be used to diagnose various acute and chronic abnormalities of the aorta, including aortic aneurysms, aortic dissection, intramural hematoma, penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer, traumatic aortic transection, and congenital malformations. This article reviews the MDCT appearance of various thoracic aortic diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Brian B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Ghoshhajra
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Rojas
authors.forename: Bhavika R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Dave
authors.forename: Suhny
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abbara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods*