Ascending aortic aneurysm by cardiac CT angiography.

Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is an increasingly frequent and potentially life-threatening medical diagnosis. TAA is defined as a localized dilatation of the aorta to more than 50% of baseline. Patients are most commonly asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. Diagnosis is made incidentally on chest radiography or echocardiography. Diagnosis is then confirmed by echocardiography, left ventricular angiography, cardiac computed tomography or cardiac magnetic resonance. Cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA) is an excellent imaging modality for this purpose as it allows simultaneous analysis of the coronary artery tree, which is useful in determining the most suitable procedure for each patient.