Aortic dissection usually presents with sudden onset of severe pain. Unfortunately, in more than half of these patients, the diagnosis is missed on admission. If the patient survives, the aortic dissection becomes chronic, whereas the patient may have few or minor symptoms. A rare manifestation may be subfebrile temperatures and inflammatory response. The authors describe a patient in whom aortic dissection resulted in night sweats, weight loss, and subfebrile temperatures.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Schattner A. , Klepfish A., Caspi A.: Chronic aortic dissection presenting as a prolonged febrile disease and arterial embolization. Chest110:1111-1114, 1996.
2.
Giladi M., Pines A., Averbuch M., et al: Aortic dissection manifested as fever of unknown origin. Cardiology78:78-80, 1991.
3.
Spittell P., Spittell JA, Joyce J., et al: Clinical features and differential diagnosis of aortic dissection: Experience with 236 cases. Mayo Clin Proc68:642-651, 1993.
4.
Meszaros I., Morocz J., Szlavi J., et al: Epidemiology and clinicopathology of aortic dissection. Chest117:1271-1278, 2000.
5.
Creswell L., Kouchoukos N., Cox J., et al: Coronary artery disease in patients with type A aortic dissection . Ann Thorac Surg59:585-590, 1995.
6.
Hirst AE, Johns VJ, Kim SW: Dissecting aneurysm of the aorta: A review of 505 cases. Medicine37:217-279, 1958.
7.
Juvonen J., Surcel HM, Teppo AM, et al: Elevated circulating levels of inflammatory cytokines in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm. Arteriscler Thromb Vasc Biol17:2843-2847, 1997.
8.
Swartbol P., Norgren L., Albrechtssson U., et al: Biological responses differ considerably between endovascular and conventional aortic aneurysm surgery. Eur J Vasc Endovasc Surg12:18-25, 1996.
9.
Swartbol P., Truedsson L., Norgren L.: Adverse reactions during endovascular treatment of aortic aneurysms may be triggered by interleukin 6 release from the thrombotic content. J Vasc Surg28:664-668, 1998.
10.
Keren A., Kim CB, Hu BS, et al: Accuracy of biplane and multiplane transesophageal echocardiography in diagnosis of typical acute aortic dissection and intramural hematoma. J Am Coll Cardiol28:627-636, 1996.