Background:
Presentations and outcomes of acute aortic dissection (AD) with an entry tear in the ascending aorta may differ from retrograde dissection with an entry tear in the descending aorta. However, guidelines recommend urgent surgical repair for both entities.
Methods and Results:
All patients with AD enrolled in the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (IRAD) between 1996 and 2014 were analyzed. We identified 99 patients (67 men; 63.2±14.0 years) with an entry tear in the descending aorta and retrograde extension into the arch or ascending aorta. Overall, independent predictors of retrograde type A AD were increasing age(OR 1.0; 95% CI, 1.0 to 1.0; P=0.004), history of cocaine abuse (OR 4.9; 95% CI, 1.7 to 13.6; P=0.003), back pain at presentation (OR 2.1; 95% CI, 1.3 to 3.3; P=0.002), and non-white race (OR 0.4; 95% CI, 0.2 to 0.6; P<0.001). During initial hospitalization, 44 of these patients were managed medically (MED), 33 with open surgery(SURG) and 22with endovascular therapy (ENDO). Patients in the SURG group presented with larger ascending aortic diameters than MED and ENDO patients (P=0.04). The majority of the MED (72.7%) and ENDO (86.4%) patients had AD extension confined to zone 1 (proximal arch, P<0.001), whereas most of the SURG patients (71.8%) presented with AD extension into zone 0 (proximal to the innominate artery, P<0.001). Early (30-day or in-hospital) mortality rates of the MED, SURG and ENDO groups were 9.1%, 18.2%, and 13.6%, respectively (P=0.51), with 5-year survival of 86.7%, 80.0%, and 90.9%, respectively (mean follow-up, 3.3 years, log rank P=0.67). A trend of favorable early mortality was observed in patients with retrograde extension till zone 1 (8.6%) versus into zone 0 (18.6%, P=0.14).Early mortality of patients with retrograde type A AD (12.9%) was lower than those with type A AD (20.0%, P=0.001), while 5-year survival was similar (86.8% and 89.5%, respectively, mean follow-up, 3.0 years, log rank P=0.96).
Conclusion:
There is a subset of patients with acute retrograde type A AD who can be managed non-operatively with acceptable short and long-term results. This implies that a selective approach may be reasonable, particularly among those with proximal extension limited to the arch distal to the innominate artery.
Clinical presentation, management, and short-term outcome of patients with type A acute dissection complicated by mesenteric malperfusion: Observations from the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection