Clinical features of isolated dissections of abdominal aortic branches

Isolated dissection of an abdominal aortic branch is a rare entity, and previous reports regarding the condition have been based only on small case-series studies. Using a national inpatient database in Japan, we describe the clinical features of patients with isolated celiac, superior mesenteric, splenic, and hepatic artery dissections (ICAD, ISMAD, ISAD, and IHAD). We extracted data on inpatients who were diagnosed with ICAD, ISMAD, ISAD, or IHAD from the Japanese diagnosis procedure combination database, including patients’ age and sex, putative risk factors (smoking status and specific comorbidities), treatments (blood transfusion, transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE) and surgical procedures), and outcomes (in-hospital complications and death). Among 18.3 million inpatients in the database between July 2010 and March 2013, we identified 276 ICAD, 715 ISMAD, 23 ISAD and 11 IHAD. The percentage of males was 78–92 %, and the mean age was 54.7–56.8 years. Hypertension was seen in 48–65, and 35–65 % were smokers. Fourteen in-hospital deaths were identified in total. In the ICAD group, splenectomy was performed in one patient and TAE was performed in 26 patients. In the ISMAD group, 16 patients received surgical intervention. Most patients with isolated dissection of an abdominal aortic branch were treated conservatively, while a small percentage required TAE or open surgery. A small proportion of dissections resulted in death.