"Hyperdense" aortic wall: potential pitfall in CT screening for aortic dissection.

M J Landay; H Virolainen

PubMed · 2061467

"Hyperdense" aortic wall: potential pitfall in CT screening for aortic dissection.

Abstract

Opacity of the aortic wall as compared with the nonopacified blood in the lumen has been utilized as one of the criteria for the diagnosis of aortic dissection. It has also been suggested that this finding may be indicative of severe anemia. We evaluated the frequency and implications of aortic wall hyperdensity in 107 consecutive chest CT examinations in patients with no indication of aortic dissection clinically or by other imaging modalities, and whose hematocrit was known. The density of the wall correlated with the patient's age and presence of calcification. Presence or absence of anemia was not a statistically significant factor, although marked conspicuousness of the wall below the age of 60 years did suggest anemia. Atherosclerosis is the most likely explanation for wall visibility in nonanemic patients.

Explore related subjects

Aortic Dissection Aortic Aneurysm Aortography Female Humans Middle Aged Tomography, X-Ray Computed Case Reports Journal Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

M J Landay, H Virolainen. "Hyperdense" aortic wall: potential pitfall in CT screening for aortic dissection.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2061467/

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed2007

Imaging of aortic abnormalities with contrast-enhanced ultrasound. A pictorial comparison with CT.

Aortic abnormalities are commonly encountered and may represent a diagnostic challenge in patients with acute or chronic clinical symptoms. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with low mechanical index (low MI) is a new promising method in the diagnosis and follow-up of pathological aortic lesions. CEUS with SonoVue allows a more rapid and noninvasive diagnosis, especially in critical patients because of its bedside availability. This review compares CEUS findings with those documented on computed tomography angiography (CTA), allowing the reader to appreciate the usefulness of CEUS in this clinical situation.

Aortic Dissection↗

PubMed2007

Photoclinic. Spontaneous dissection of the abdominal aorta.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Aortic Dissection↗

PubMed2007

Risk of local adverse events by gender following cardiac catheterization.

PURPOSE: To assess the reason for the relative high risk of local complications for women following cardiac catheterization by evaluating the associations between gender, sheath size, and local adverse outcomes following cardiac catheterization. METHODS: The data used in this study were obtained from a portion of the American College of Cardiology-National Cardiovascular Data Registry (ACC-NCDR), which included 13 878 patients who underwent cardiac catheterization at one of 59 participating cardiac catheterization institutions throughout the United States during late 2003. Rates of serious local vascular adverse events were calculated by gender following cardiac catheterization, by type of vascular hemostasis used, stratified by arterial sheath size. RESULTS: Serious local vascular events were reported in 3.54% of patients, most commonly hematoma (2.00%). The relative risk for women of any vascular complication was 1.40 [95%CI = 1.17, 1.67, p = 0.0002]. A statistically significant relative risk for woman was evident when collagen plug devices or manual compression alone were used as the first method for hemostasis. The rate of vascular complications increased progressively with increasing sheath size, more so in women than in men. CONCLUSIONS: High relative risk for women of local vascular complications following cardiac catheterization was demonstrated with use of manual compression, as well as with collagen plug devices to control femoral artery bleeding. Large sheath size is associated with both a relatively high absolute risk and a high relative risk for women. Knowledge of this information should be considered by interventional cardiologists in making decisions on how to achieve hemostasis following cardiac catheterization.

Aortic Dissection↗