Feasibility and accuracy of bedside transthoracic echocardiography in diagnosis of acute proximal aortic dissection

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to establish the accuracy of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in diagnosis of acute type A aortic dissection in comparison to computed tomography (CT), with reference to the intraoperative image. METHODS: The retrospective analysis included 178 patients referred to the cardiac surgery unit in our center due to acute type A dissection between 01-01-2008 and 31-12-2013, who underwent both TTE and CT. Intraoperative image was considered as a reference. RESULTS: Statistical analysis did not show any significant differences between computed tomography and echocardiography in the detection of the proximal aortic dissection. In patients with aortic valve abnormalities, procedure of choice was replacement by a composite graft (77,59%), whereas patients with a normal image of aortic valve were more likely to have the valve sparing procedure (50,88%). The R-Spearman statistics shows a strong positive correlation between maximum diameter of ascending aorta measured by TTE and CT (cc 0.869) and TTE and intraoperative measurement (cc 0.844). CONCLUSION: Our data confirm that transthoracic echocardiography is a reliable method for diagnosis of proximal aortic dissection. TTE provides a reliable value of maximum diameter of the ascending aorta in comparison to both CT and direct intraoperative measurement. Moreover, transthoracic echocardiography gives the additional information that influences the operative technique of choice and identifies the high-risk patients (cardiac tamponade, severe aortic dilatation, severe aortic regurgitation). Our retrospective analysis confirms the pivotal role of TTE in the evaluation of the patients with suspected proximal aortic dissection in emergency room setting.