Iatrogenic aortic dissection during coronary intervention.

Iatrogenic acute dissection of the ascending aorta following coronary angiography and percutaneous intervention is rare. Localized aortic dissections have been treated by sealing the entry with a coronary stent. Extensive dissections may require a surgical intervention. We describe a coronary dissection with retrograde extension to the ascending aorta that occurred during angioplasty of the right coronary artery. The extensive dissection, which was limited to the ascending aorta, was successfully treated by stenting of the right coronary artery and monitoring the aortic dissection by means of transesophageal echocardiography.