Heart disease. These two words often conjure up images of an elderly man clutching his chest in a fit of pain and later succumbing to a heart attack. These two words describe the leading cause of death among Americans: almost 25%1. Unfortunately, many specific heart problems fade away and fall under the umbrella of just two words. This research paper will discuss one such heart problem, aortic dissection, in much more detail than just two words. The aorta is the largest artery in the body, responsible for transferring oxygenated blood from the heart to every organ in the body. body. Understandably, any disruption to the integrity of the aorta could have catastrophic consequences. An aortic dissection occurs when a tear develops in the inner layer of the aorta. As the lesion expands, blood will begin to leak from the lesion and continue down the aorta between the inner and outer layers. When the inner and outer layers begin to separate from each other, they develop into what is called a true and false lumen. An aorta can dissect in various ways. These different types of dissection are then classified as Type A, B, and Type I to III. Type A involves the ascending aorta. Type B does not involve the ascending aorta2. Type I involves the entire aorta, Type II involves only the ascending aorta, and Type III originates in the descending aorta and extends distally and does not involve the ascending aorta or arch.2 Dissections that originate into the descending aorta and then progressively dissect proximally are still considered Type III. There are several causes of aortic dissection. Trauma is a major cause of aortic dissection, especially blunt trauma, such as a blow to the chest on a steering wheel... the center of a sheet of paper... Numerous signs and symptoms occur with an aortic dissection, making very difficult to diagnose. Chest x-ray and CT angiography of the chest and abdomen are the two most common tests performed to confirm a diagnosis, with CT angiography being the modality of choice. If the patient survives the onset of aortic dissection, a sufficiently long surgical repair can be performed. Surgical repair is very risky and does not have a high success rate, however, if the surgery proves successful, the patient's prognosis increases significantly after 30 days. Perhaps the next time you are faced with the familiar image of a man clutching his chest and collapsing due to "heart disease," instead of assuming that the man suffered the usual heart attack, you will remember that there There are countless conditions that include heart disease. , and that aortic dissection remains one of the deadliest.