Context

The challenge for the emergency physician is in making the diagnosis of acute aortic dissection (AAD) and in doing so as expediently as possible, as the mortality rate is 1-2% per hour. The image illustrates an aortic dissection from the ascending aorta into the descending aorta.

It is often a difficult diagnosis to make due to the multitude of different clinical presentations of the disease. The aim of this session is to provide a firm underpinning knowledge about AAD and to increase its consideration in the differential diagnosis of any patient with appropriate signs and symptoms of the disease.