Department of Emergency Medicine

UMEM Educational Pearls

Category: Vascular

Title: Complications of Acute Aortic Dissection

Keywords: Aortic Dissection (PubMed Search)

Posted: 6/20/2011 by Rob Rogers, MD (Updated: 4/25/2024)
Click here to contact Rob Rogers, MD

There are several complications of acute aortic dissection that emergency physicians must be familiar with.

These include:

  • Cardiac tamponade (most common cause of death)
  • Acute aortic regurgitation
  • Stroke
  • Free intrathoracic rupture
  • Malperfusion syndrome (kidney, spinal cord, bowel, extremity, etc.)

*Key Pearl: If a patient with suspected or confirmed acute aortic dissection suddenly arrests consider cardiac tamponade.

References



Download the UMEM Pearls App!

UMEM Daily Pearls

Subscribe to daily UMEM Pearls (FREE!) via:

Email Mailing List

Browse a Pearl Category:

Browse a Pearl Author:

Search Pearls