Acute aortic dissection in a young patient without Marfan fibrillinopathy: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Acute aortic dissection is a rare clinical entity that mainly affects patients older than 50 years. It is unusual in younger patients and its presence has been traditionally associated with trauma, Marfan syndrome, bicuspid aortic valve and pregnancy. Heavy weightlifting and other fibrillinopathies have been also implicated in the literature. We present here the case of a 26 year old male with acute aortic dissection type A (De Bakey II), without family history of connective tissue diseases and signs of Marfan syndrome. CASE PRESENTATION: The patient is a 26-year-old Caucasian Greek male who was presented in the emergency department with acute chest pain. Computerized tomography with contrast material showed the presence of an ascending aortic aneurysm with the question of an acute dissection type A (De Bakey II). The patient was emergently operated with replacement of the affected aortic segment and he had an uneventful clinical course. Three years follow up is essentially normal. CONCLUSION: Although extremely rare, aortic dissection is always a possibility in the differential diagnosis of chest and/or back pain in young patients and should be thoroughly investigated. The presence of an associated aneurysm makes the possibility even higher. The disease, if undiagnosed, carries the same mortality rates as in the older population. Prompt surgical intervention offers a possible cure and long term survival benefit for the patients.