[Aortic dissection. A 8-year material from health region 5].
At the University Clinic Tromsø 27 and 16 patients with aortic dissection of Stanford type A and B have been admitted during the last eight years. The treatment strategy has been immediate surgery for type A and a conservative strategy consisting of blood pressure reduction and observation for type B. Nine (33%) of the patients with type A dissections were diagnosed either too late for surgery or at autopsy. Two were deemed too ill for operative treatment. One patient with a chronic type A dissection has been followed up without surgery. The remaining 15 were operated on. Four of these (26%) died within 30 days. Apart from a temporary hemiparesis, no sequelae related to the surgical treatment were observed in the remaining 11 patients. Six of the 16 patients with type B dissections were operated on because of organ ischemia or rupture/threatening rupture. Two died within 30 days. One patient had a prolonged postoperative course owing to multiple organ failure and muscle necrosis. Two of the ten patients with type B dissections who were followed up without surgery died during the observation period. These observations indicate a need for a more aggressive approach to the diagnosis and follow-up of aortic dissections.