ABC | Volume 112, Nº3, March 2019

Case Report Taglialegna & Lucena Chronic aortic dissection and pregnancy Arq Bras Cardiol. 2019; 112(3):321-323 Figure 1 – Computed tomography illustrating type B dissection. Figure 2 – Computed tomography in axial view showing the dissection extending to the origin of the renal arteries. to vessel rupture, pericardial tamponade, heart failure, and ischemia of vital organs such as the brain, kidneys, and spinal cord. 3 When the presentation is acute, the dissection symptoms are typical: sudden onset of thoracic, abdominal, or back pain, of the lancinating type. 3 The oligosymptomatic picture, such as that presented by the patient, which is typical of chronic dissections, is frequently underestimated and attributed to the physiological changes that occur during pregnancy, causing a delay in the diagnosis. 6 Despite the known risk of ionizing radiation for the conceptus, it is known that this is small, and in these cases the benefit of performing a CT overcomes the risk. The USG was important initially for the identification of the aortic dilatation. 322