The Reliability of Echocardiography in the Diagnosis of Aortic Root Dissection

Abstract

Criteria for the echocardiographic diagnosis of aortic root dissection have been previously described. These include dilatation of the aortic root to 42 mm or more, widening of the aortic walls (16 mm or more when the anterior wall is involved and 10 mm or greater for posterior wall dissection, normal width 5–7 mm), intimal echo thinner than the outer margin and moving parallel or nearly parallel to it throughout the cardiac cycle, and the presence of normal valve cusp echoes contained in the true lumen. These criteria were based on a total number of 6 cases examined by ultrasound. An additional 11 cases of proved aortic root dissection have been studied by us during the past 5 years and have provided the basis for evaluating the reliability of the current diagnostic criteria.