Acute aortic dissection associated with cystic medial necrosis of unknown etiology.
A 61-year-old man without a Marfan-like phenotype was admitted to the hospital because of acute Stanford type A aortic dissection. The patient underwent surgical repair with total arch replacement. Histological examination of the excised aorta showed a connective tissue abnormality, which could have contributed to the development of aortic dissection. The cause of the connective tissue abnormality could not be determined through physical examination. Recently, however, many novel gene mutations have been found to be related to aortic diseases that do not always produce physical signs and symptoms. In this case, unknown causes of connective tissue abnormalities might be existed.
Division of Intensive and Cardiac Care Unit, Nippon Medical School Hospital, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan. koichi-a@nms.ac.jp
Koichi
K
Akutsu
Masashi
M
Kawamoto
Naoki
N
Sato
Takeshi
T
Yamamoto
Koichi
K
Tamura
Kyoichi
K
Mizuno
Keiji
K
Tanaka
D001011:Aorta / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001027:Aortography; D003560:Cysts / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed