Abstract
Dissection is the commonest acute catastrophe involving the aorta. Computed tomography (CT) is increasingly used in evaluating patients with suspected aortic dissection. Occasionally normal anatomic structures may be misconstrued as pathologic due of lack of familiarity with anatomical variations. In scanning two patients with suspected dissection, we encountered pitfalls that led to an erroneous diagnosis of dissection. The subsequent clinical course and evaluation confirmed that the CT findings were artefactual. This report illustrates these potential errors and discusses the mechanisms.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 184-187 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Heart, Lung and Circulation |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jun 2004 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Aortic dissection
- Aortic rupture
- False positive CT