Aortic dissection is a disease of the wall of the aorta in which the aortic blood bursts into the muscular layer of the great artery, thus forming a blood filled channel along the planes of the muscularis layer. This false lumen can re-rupture back into the true lumen, through a second distal intimal tear, creating a biluminal or double barrelled aorta. Due to weakened walls, there is threat of rupture into the surrounding tissue with fatal consequences. (Boon, R, Colledge, Walker, & Hunter, 2010)

The pathophysiology behind the condition is often a spontaneous or iatrogenic tear in the intima. However, in about five to ten percent of patients, these tears are absent. An intimal tear can occur anywhere along the aorta, although a vast majority of tears are found within ten centimeters of the aortic valve. The dissection may extend towards the heart, affecting the coronary arteries, or it may...
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