Familial aortic dissection

What it is

Familial aortic dissection is the term used to describe rupture of the aortic wall at the level of the media, resulting in the formation of a false channel and deviation of part of the aortic flux. Familial predisposition to thoracic aortic aneurysms and type A dissections (concerning the ascending aorta and/or the aortic arch) has been demonstrated in around 19% of patients presenting with thoracic aortic dissections and several loci have been identified so far (16p12.2-p13.13, 3p24-25). This predisposition is transmitted in an autosomal dominant manner.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 1 000 000 (annual incidence)

Age of onset

All ages

Classified as

Disease

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

Gene

ICD-10 codes

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references