Spectrum of conditions initially suggesting acute aortic dissection but with negative aortograms.

Between 1963 and 1983, 55 patients presented to our hospital with a clinical picture that suggested aortic dissection but with aortograms that were interpreted as negative for that entity. In 4 patients, the aortographic findings subsequently proved to be false negative. The remaining 51 patients had the following diagnoses: myocardial infarction in 9 patients; aortic regurgitation in 5; thoracic nondissecting aneurysm in 4; musculoskeletal pain in 4; mediastinal tumor in 4; pericarditis in 3; acute coronary insufficiency in 3; cholecystitis in 2; miscellaneous in 3; and unknown in 14. The clinical features in these patients were compared with those of 125 patients with true aortic dissection. Three features were significantly more prevalent in patients with than without dissection: prior systemic hypertension, pain for 24 hours or less, and migratory pain. Patients without dissection were younger than those with distal dissection and had significantly less systemic hypertension, posterior thoracic pain and migratory pain. Patients without dissection had significantly less frequent congestive heart failure, pulse deficits and aortic regurgitation, and more frequent hypertension and pain for more than 24 hours than patients with proximal dissection. This study defines the actual differential diagnosis of aortic dissection at our hospital, the frequency of false-negative aortographic findings and contrasts the clinical features of patients with and without dissection.