The Role of Aortography in the Diagnosis and Management of Dissecting Aneurysms of the Aorta

¹ The Departments of Radiology and Surgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Departments of Radiology and Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
² The Departments of Radiology and Surgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Departments of Radiology and Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut., Postdoctoral Research Fellow, National Heart Institute, United States Public Health Service.
³ The Departments of Radiology and Surgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Departments of Radiology and Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut., Established investigator, American Heart Association.
⁴ The Departments of Radiology and Surgery, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Departments of Radiology and Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut., Department of Surgery, West Virginia University Medical Center, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Patients who exhibit clinical evidence of a dissecting aneurysm of the aorta should be examined by a forward angiographic technique as possible. It is felt that the use of large amounts of radiopqaue contrast material and a mechanical injector will increase the diagnostic value of the films obtained. Upon the basis of precise anatomic knowledge of the origin and extent of the dissecting process, a well-conceived surgical plan of attack can be developed. Five cases which demonstrate this approach are presented and the method of surgical management is briefly discussed.