Being female or having atypical pain is associated with delays to diagnosis of aortic dissection. This recent study also shows that arrival in a non-tertiary hospital is another factor associated with delayed diagnosis. Patients may present with fever, abdominal pain, or heart failure (due to acute aortic insufficiency) that lead the clinician down alternative diagnostic algorithms. The strongest factors associated with operative delay were prolonged time from presentation to diagnosis, race other than white, and history of coronary artery bypass surgery.
Worth remembering at this point that in 2010 the AHA published Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Patients With Thoracic Aortic Disease
Background- In acute aortic dissection, delays exist between presentation and diagnosis and, once diagnosed, definitive treatment. This study aimed to define the variables associated with these delays.
Methods and Results- Acute aortic dissection patients enrolled in the International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (IRAD) between 1996 and January 2007 were evaluated for factors contributing to delays in presentation to diagnosis and in diagnosis to surgery. Multiple linear regression was performed to determine relative delay time ratios (DTRs) for individual correlates. The median time from arrival at the emergency department to diagnosis was 4.3 hours (quartile 1-3, 1.5-24 hours; n=894 patients) and from diagnosis to surgery was 4.3 hours (quartile 1-3, 2.4-24 hours; n=751). Delays in acute aortic dissection diagnosis occurred in female patients; those with atypical symptoms that were not abrupt or did not include chest, back, or any pain; patients with an absence of pulse deficit or hypotension; or those who initially presented to a nontertiary care hospital (all P<0.05). The largest relative DTRs were for fever (DTR=5.11; P<0.001) and transfer from nontertiary hospital (DTR=3.34; P<0.001). Delay in time from diagnosis to surgery was associated with a history of previous cardiac surgery, presentation without abrupt or any pain, and initial presentation to a nontertiary care hospital (all P<0.001). The strongest factors associated with operative delay were prolonged time from presentation to diagnosis (DTR=1.35; P<0.001), race other than white (DTR=2.25; P<0.001), and history of coronary artery bypass surgery (DTR=2.81; P<0.001).
Conclusions- Improved physician awareness of atypical presentations and prompt transport of acute aortic dissection patients could reduce crucial time variables.
Correlates of Delayed Recognition and Treatment of Acute Type A Aortic Dissection: The International Registry of Acute Aortic Dissection (IRAD)
Circulation. 2011 Nov 1;124(18):1911-1918
Outcomes are described for military personnel with vascular injury sustained in Afghanistan and Iraq.
BACKGROUND: Military injuries to named blood vessels are complex limb- and life-threatening wounds that pose significant difficulties in prehospital and surgical management. The aim of this study was to provide a comprehensive description of the epidemiology, treatment and outcome of vascular injury among service personnel deployed on operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
METHODS: Data from the British Joint Theatre Trauma Registry were combined with hospital records to review all cases of vascular trauma in deployed service personnel over a 5-year interval ending in January 2008.
RESULTS: Of 1203 injured service personnel, 110 sustained injuries to named vessels; 66 of them died before any surgical intervention. All 25 patients who sustained an injury to a named vessel in the abdomen or thorax died; 24 did not survive to undergo surgery and one casualty in extremis underwent a thoracotomy, but died. Six of 17 patients with cervical vascular injuries survived to surgical intervention; two died after surgery. Of 76 patients with extremity vascular injuries, 37 survived to surgery with one postoperative death. Interventions on 38 limbs included 19 damage control procedures (15 primary amputations, 4 vessel ligations) and 19 definitive limb revascularization procedures (11 interposition vein grafts, 8 direct repairs), four of which failed necessitating three amputations.
CONCLUSION: In operable patients with extremity injury, amputation or ligation is often required for damage control and preservation of life. Favourable limb salvage rates are achievable in casualties able to withstand revascularization. Despite marked progress in contemporary battlefield trauma care, torso vascular injury is usually not amenable to surgical intervention.
Outcome after vascular trauma in a deployed military trauma system
Br J Surg. 2011 Feb;98(2):228-34
Two recent papers expand our knowledge of blunt traumatic aortic injury.
UK crash data identified risk factors for low impact blunt traumatic aortic rupture, or ‘LIBTAR’ (crashes at relatively low speed): age >60, lateral impacts and being seated on the side that is struck are predictive of LIBTAR. This study should raise our index of suspicion of aortic injury in low-impact scenarios since low-impact collisions account for two thirds of fatal aortic injuries.
Low-impact scenarios may account for two-thirds of blunt traumatic aortic rupture
Emerg Med J. 2010 May;27(5):341-4
Data from the Victorian State Trauma Registry showed pre-hospital mortality from traumatic thoracic aortic transection was approximately 88.0%, whereas patients who survive to reach hospital have a much lower hospital mortality (33.3%, and once patients who arrived in extremis were removed hospital mortality was reduced to 5.9%). Repair was performed in 46 patients, with 22 receiving initial endovascular repair and 24 receiving initial open repair. Mortality rates following surgery were 9.1% and 16.7%, respectively.
The majority of patients arriving at hospital (57.1%) had an ISS of over 40 highlighting that these patients are unlikely to have only one serious injury and are likely to be more seriously injured than the normal trauma population. An ISS greater than 40 was a main predictor of mortality before repair.
Aortic transection: demographics, treatment and outcomes in Victoria, Australia
Emerg Med J. 2010 May;27(5):368-71
Resuscitation Medicine from Dr Cliff Reid
