[Acute aortic dissection type A: from the past to the present].

Acute aortic dissection type A (AADA) is a disease that has a catastrophic impact on a patient's life. Although refinements in perioperative and surgical care have translated into improved outcomes for patients affected by AADA, hospital mortality after surgery still remains very high, ranging from 15% to 30%. The management of AADA is complex and dictated by the modality of presentation, extent and location of the disease. Attempts to formulate consensus statements and relevant guidelines have identified significant gaps in the AADA knowledge with reference to pathogenesis, appropriate management and configuration for clinical services. Several international registries have been created to generate an evidence base that can address current and future management. In this context, the extensive use of surgical/hybrid approaches in treating AADA should be encouraged as well as more extensive interventions to replace the entire dissected aortic root and aortic arch tissues. In addition, the excellent outcome results recently achieved by high-volume surgical centers with focused expertise in AADA pointed out the need for regionalized super-centers offering specific multidisciplinary aortic surgery programs with dedicated high-specialized surgeons.