title: Early identification of an atypical case of type A dissection by transthoracic echocardiography by the emergency physician.
abstract: Thoracic aortic dissection is a lethal disease, and emergency department diagnosis is limited by imperfect diagnostic testing and limited resources;however, this case report illustrates the nonspecific presentation of thoracic aortic dissection and the use of emergency physician use of transthoracic echocardiography with the addition of suprasternal notch views to help differentiate all-cause chest pain and aid in accurate diagnosis,as well as earlier surgical correction for best patient outcomes in cases of thoracic aortic dissection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Beebe Medical Center, Lewes, DE. Electronic address: sparkyur@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Scott Edward
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Sparks
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL. Electronic address: kurzmc@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurz
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA. Electronic address: franzend@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Doug
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Franzen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D004452:Echocardiography; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed