The aorta is a main artery that carries blood away from your heart to the rest of the body. The blood it carries is rich in oxygen, and your body relies on it for survival. The aorta is about an inch ...

An aortic dissection is a tear in one of the layers of the aorta. The aorta is your body’s largest blood vessel. Your aorta is made up of three layers. When a hole or tear forms in one of these layers ...

An aortic dissection happens when tears appear in the inner lining of the aorta, which is the main artery leaving the heart. Blood surges into the tears, causing the aorta lining to split, or dissect.

A 74-year-old man presents to the emergency department with a 1-day history of severe chest and back pain. He has a history of hypertension and has run out of medication. He has no history of similar ...

Spontaneous dissections have been described in arteries throughout the body. The extracranial segments of the carotid and vertebral arteries are much more likely to undergo dissection than either ...

Arterial dissections involving arteries in the neck and head are being identified increasingly readily because of growing awareness of their clinical features, along with advances in imaging ...