Emergency selective aortography for acute lesions of the thoracic aorta.

Emergency selective aortography is necessary for the definitive diagnosis of acute lesions of the thoracic aorta and defines their therapeutic possibilities. Cineradiography is very helpful and is complementary fo the roentgenograms. In this paper the study of dissecting aneurysms, tears of the aortic wall, ruptured aortic aneurysms and traumatic aortic lacerations is described. A new anatomic classification of dissecting aneurysms combined with that of De Bakey et al. is presented.