Behavior of mortality due to aortic dissection in Cuba

Abstract

Introduction: Aortic dissection is a disease of poor prognosis, with a high mortality rate, even when it is diagnosed early and the adequate surgery is performed.

Objectives: To describe some characteristics of the patients who died due to aortic dissection in Cuba.

Method: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted. It included 888 de-ceased patients with a diagnosis of aortic dissection, who were registered in the Automated Registration and Control System of Anatomical Pathology (SARCAP, for its acronym in Spanish) in Cuba, from 1962 to 2004.

Results: The age groups from 65 to 74 and from 75 to 84 years predominated, with 266 (30.0%) and 210 (23.6%) deaths, respectively. The largest number of deaths [496 (55.9%)] occurred in the first 24 hours. Stanford type A aortic dissection was the most frequent type [535 diagnoses were made (61.1%)]. The most common underlying cause of death was aortic dissection itself (61.6 %) and the most common direct cause of death was hemopericardium (43.9%). The rate of diagnostic agreement was 33.5 % in the underlying cause and 28.8 % in direct cause.

Conclusions: During the 42 years covered by the study, the patients who died from aortic dissection in Cuba predominantly had Stanford type A dissections, were over 55 years of age and had a hospital stay of less than 2 months. The largest number of deaths occurred in the first 24 hours and the rate of diagnostic agreement was low.