Helical CT for diagnosis of aortic dissection

To assess the value of contrast-enhanced helical CT scanning in the diagnosis of acute aortic dissection, 102 patients who were suspected of acute aortic dissection and were underging helical CT scanning because of chest pain or an abnormal chest radiograph were studied. Immediately after completion of helical chest CT, non-helical or helical scans of the abdomen were also obtained to determine the inferior extent of the dissection. Of the 102 patients, 50 had aortic dissections based on findings from surgery, angiography, CT scans or transesophageal echocardiography. CT findings provided 100 correct reports and 2 incorrect reports. Eighteen patients had type A dissections and 32 patients had type B dissections. The sensitivity of CT scanning for acute aortic dissection was 100% and specificity was 96%. From this study, we believe that high-quality helical CT techniques can be useful as the primary imaging modality in the evaluation of acute aortic dissection.