title: Follow-up after acute aortic dissections--time to differentiate?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the survival after acute aortic dissections as a function of dissection type and initial treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chart review of all acute aortic dissection cases admitted during 1998-2004 (n = 84) to a single cardiothoracic center.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Endovascular treatment of type B and survival to discharge after surgery for acute type A dissection conferred excellent long-term survival. Whereas medically treated type B dissection patients had a considerably higher risk of death which persisted over five to seven years, only one of the ten deaths occurring beyond the first month of the index dissection were related to aortic pathology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The strikingly dissimilar survival functions of the various stratae of acute aortic dissection patients imply that follow-up should be differentiated accordingly. Challenging current guidelines, our data suggest that routine aortic imaging is unnecessary for the first year following discharge after surgery for acute type A dissections.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, University Hospital North Norway, Tromsø, Norway. kristian.bartnes@unn.no
authors.forename: Kristian
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bartnes
authors.forename: Toril
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.forename: Truls
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Myrmel
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D001014:Aortic Aneurysm / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality* / Q000601:surgery; D002423:Cause of Death; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009664:Norway; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome