Acute aortic dissection in the young: clinical series.

Acute aortic dissection (AAD) is an uncommon lethal cardiovascular emergency demanding prompt diagnosis and aggressive therapeutic intervention. Although it usually affects males over 60 years of age, it may also occur in young adults with specific risk factors such as Marfan syndrome, bicuspid aortic valve and larger aortic dimensions. Moreover, it should be underlined that it is frequently associated with unusual presentation and that the mortality risk is similar to older AAD patients. Thus ''a call to arms'' of the medical community is needed to better understand the spectrum of acute aortic syndromes and to define appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic pathways. We report a series of 6 young patients with type A - AAD referred over the past years at our institute.