Acute ischemic stroke as a complication of Stanford type A acute aortic dissection: a review and proposed clinical recommendations for urgent diagnosis

Stanford type A acute aortic dissection requires emergency surgery. Because patients with ischemic stroke as a complication of Stanford type A acute aortic dissection do not often complain of chest or back pain, probably due to consciousness disturbance, amnesia, or aphasia, a fatal course following inappropriate intravenous rt-PA therapy and delay of appropriate surgical treatment sometimes occur.

When treating any suspected stroke patients, emergency services and initial urgent care doctors should always suspect aortic dissection. Even in the absence of chest or back pain, the initial urgent care doctor needs to immediately perform chest contrast CT if suspecting aortic dissection from blood pressure laterality or upper mediastinal widening on chest X-ray. Whenever aortic dissection cannot be ruled out from initial clinical information, the initial urgent care doctor should evaluate the common carotid artery (CCA). Dissection extension to the CCA or flow abnormality of the CCA is often detected if aortic dissection is a cause of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack. Head CT or MRI including vascular imaging is preferable. D-dimer should be measured in hospitals where available. As soon as aortic dissection is identified, the initial urgent care doctor needs to consult with cardiovascular surgeons or cardiologists for appropriate treatment.