Aortic dissection and bicuspid aortic valve: an autopsy study.

Medico-legal post-mortems referred to the Department of Pathology, for the histopathological examination, revealed six cases of acute aortic dissection--two in isolation, three in combination with congenital bicuspid aortic valve; and one isolated case of congenital bicuspid aortic valve. One case of isolated aortic dissection was associated with Marfan's syndrome; and one case of aortic dissection with bicuspid aortic valve was associated with polycystic kidneys. History of hypertension could be elicited in two cases. Cystic medial degeneration of aorta was seen in three cases; one of which was associated with Marfan's syndrome. All five cases of aortic dissection belonged to type II of DeBakey classification.