Aortic dissection following transluminal angioplasty of the thoracic aorta in nonspecific aortoarteritis.

We performed transluminal angioplasty for an eccentric, calcific stenosis of the thoracic aorta in a patient with nonspecific aortoarteritis and encountered an iatrogenic aortic dissection. Follow-up by intravenous digital subtraction angiography at 12 hours and at one week showed no change in the picture. He is asymptomatic at 6 months except for residual hypertension. Eccentric, localized thoracic stenosis may constitute an unfavourable angiographic morphology for angioplasty.