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Mobility of the Intimal Flap and Thrombus Formation in Aortic Dissection: A Transesophageal Echocardiographic Study
Author(s) -
ROUDAUT RAYMOND,
CHEVALIER JEANMICHEL,
BARBEAU PASCAL,
EGLOFF PHILIPPE,
GOSSE PHILIPPE,
DALLOCCHIO MODESTE
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
echocardiography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1540-8175
pISSN - 0742-2822
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8175.1993.tb00038.x
Subject(s) - medicine , thrombus , aortic dissection , aorta , lumen (anatomy) , ectasia , dissection (medical) , cardiology , descending aorta , aortic arch , radiology , thoracic aorta
The mechanisms of the motion of the intimal flap and of thrombus formation in acute or chronic aortic dissection are not definitively elucidated. Transesophageal echocardiography seems to be a technique of choice to analyze the flow in the true and false lumina. Twenty‐one consecutive patients were studied in order to define the mobility of the intimal flap, the color Doppler flow patterns, the presence of spontaneous echocardiographic contrast, and thrombus formation at different levels of the aorta. The results suggest that clotted false lumen is more often seen in chronic aortic dissection at the level of the descending thoracic aorta. However, thrombosed false lumen in the aortic arch is suggestive of a retrograde aortic dissection. In cases of complete obliteration of the false lumen, the differentiation between aortic dissection and aortic ectasia with mural thrombus may be extremely difficult.