Background: Stanford A aortic dissection is a surgical emergency. Its misleading clinical presentations sometimes makes its diagnosis difficult.
Case presentation:We describe the case of a 58-yearold black male smoker patient with untreated hypertension admitted to the emergency room without symptoms, having presented a few hours earlier, moderate chest pain with transient sweating. The clinical examination found blood pressure asymmetry and a weaker radial pulse on the right arm. The ECG showed nonspecific abnormalities. D dimers were greater than 20,000 µg/L. Chest CT angiography showed Stanford type A aortic dissection. The patient underwent emergency surgery with aortic valve replacement, placement of a supracoronary tube and repair of the aortic pellet with simple postoperative course.
Conclusion:Although Stanford A aortic dissection is rare, clinician should be aware of it while facing a patient with transcient chest pain and cardiovascular risk factors, especially high blood pressure.