| Specialty: | Vascular surgery, cardiology, emergency medicine |
| Symptoms: | Abdominal pain, flank pain, or back pain |
| Complications: | Shock, anemia |
| Onset: | Acute |
| Causes: | Ruptured aortic aneurysm, trauma |
| Treatment: | Surgical repair |
| Prognosis: | Poor |
| Deaths: | Up to 90% of cases |
Aortic rupture is the breakage of all walls of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. Aortic rupture is a rare, extremely dangerous condition that is considered a medical emergency. The most common cause is an abdominal aortic aneurysm that has ruptured spontaneously. Aortic rupture is distinct from aortic dissection, which is a tear through the inner wall of the aorta that can block the flow of blood through the aorta to the heart or abdominal organs.
An aortic rupture can be classified according to its cause into one of the following main types:
Diagnosis of a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (rAAA) is challenging, with a wrong diagnosis occurring in between 32 and 42 % of cases. Such errors further increase the mortality risk due to incorrect first response and treatment. In cases of misdiagnosis, aortic rupture is often mistaken for ureteric colic and myocardial infarction (MI).[2]
The primary differential diagnoses include cardiogenic shock, pleural effusion, pulmonary embolism, myocarditis, myocardial infarction,[3] but may also encompass acute gastritis, appendicitis, diverticulitis, gallstones, peptic ulcer disease and urinary tract infection as well.
An aortic rupture is a catastrophic medical emergency. People rarely survive such an injury. Mortality from aortic rupture is up to 90%. 65–75% of patients die before they arrive at the hospital and up to 90% die before they reach the operating room.[4]