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A Review of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Disease

Echo Research & Practice volume 7, pages R1–R10 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Aortic diseases may be diagnosed after a long period of subclinical development or they may have an acute presentation. Acute aortic syndrome is often the first sign of the disease, which needs rapid diagnosis and decision making to reduce the extremely poor prognosis. Aortic dilatation is a well-recognised risk factor for acute events and can occur as a result of trauma, infection, or, most commonly, from an intrinsic abnormality in the elastin and collagen components of the aortic wall. Over the years it has become clear that a few monogenic syndromes are strongly associated with aneurysms and often dictate a severe presentation in younger patients while the vast majority have a multifactorial pathogenesis. Conventional cardiovascular risk factors and ageing play an important role. Management strategy is based on prevention consisting of regular follow-up with cross-sectional imaging, chemoprophylaxis of further dilatation with drugs proved to slow down the disease progression and preventative surgery when dimension exceeds internationally recognised cut-off values for aortic diameters and the risk of rupture/dissection is therefore deemed very high.

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Funding

This review did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University Hospital Birmingham, Department of Cardiology, Birmingham, UK

    Paul F. Clift (MD)

  2. Great Ormond St Hospital, Department of Cardiology, London, UK

    Elena Cervi (MD PhD)

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  1. Paul F. Clift
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Correspondence to Elena Cervi.

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Clift, P.F., Cervi, E. A Review of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Disease. Echo Res Pract 7, R1–R10 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1530/ERP-19-0049

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Echo Research & Practice

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