[Echocardiographic diagnosis of the dissection of the thoracic aorta].

Nine patients with aortic root dilatation without dissection and four patients with a dissecting aneurysm of the ascending aorta were studied with single-plane echocardiography. Previously reported echocardiographic findings, which have been shown to be similar in these two groups of patients, are confirmed. In addition to (a) aortic root dilatation, (b) thickening of the anterior and/or the posterior aortic wall, and (c) the multiple parallel echoes within the widened aortic walls, which are all considered to be not specific signs of dissection, the authors outline the presence of some specific echocardiographic patterns in patients with a dissecting hematoma of the ascending aorta. These include: 1) the loss of contiguity between the inner borders of the anterior aortic wall and the interventricular septum when the dissection is confined to the anterior wall of the aorta; 2) the loss of contiguity between the inner and/or outer borders of the posterior aortic wall and the mitral anulus if the hematoma extends to the posterior wall of the aorta.