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Background: Pulmonary artery dissection (PAD) is an uncommon condition associated with high mortality rates. To date, a comprehensive examination of various underlying causes of PAD remains unexplored. Methods: We used the search words ''pulmonary artery dissection,'' ''pulmonary artery dilatation,'' and ''pulmonary artery rupture'' in the public database, and examined the medical records of PAD patients treated in our hospital. Data on demographics, aetiology, PAD locations, histopathology, treatments, and outcomes, were collected. Results: A total of 145 patients with PAD (135 cases from the literature and 10 cases from our hospital) were analysed. PAD aetiology was categorized into four groups: congenital heart diseases (CHD) associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), non-CHD associated with pulmonary hypertension (PH), aortic dissection-related, and miscellaneous causes. The most frequent cause, accounting for 32.4 % of PAD cases, was congenital heart disease, followed by idiopathic PAH (13 %) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (6 %). Patients with CHD were typically younger at the time of PAD diagnosis (median age: 35 years old) when compared with those suffering from aortic dissection, PH-associated conditions, or other causes (median age: 45, 55, and 56 years old, respectively). Imaging of the pulmonary artery proved effective in diagnosing PAD. The outcomes were generally poor. 44.7 % (21/47) of patients with CHD associated with PAH and 47.7 % (21/44) of non-CHD PH-associated diseases died during follow-up. Multidisciplinary team consultations are crucial when making decisions on management of PAD. Characteristic PAD histopathology features included thickened intima and hypertrophied media with atheromatous degeneration, disrupted elastic fibres, and lymphocytic infiltration. Conclusions: PAD aetiology can be divided into four main categories, with CHD associated with PAH being the leading cause. Despite the similar histopathology features, clinical manifestations and outcomes vary according to the aetiology.

Background: Pulmonary artery dissection is a rare condition that is usually diagnosed in patients exhibiting chronic pulmonary arterial hypertension, congenital heart abnormalities or secondary to iatrogenic injury. Diagnosis is often made at autopsy as many patients experience sudden death when the pulmonary artery dissection progresses rapidly and ruptures into the pericardium, resulting in acute cardiac tamponade.Case Presentation: We report a case of pulmonary artery dissection, which resulted from blunt thoracic trauma diagnosed in the emergency department.

Pulmonary arterial dissection (PAD) is a rare and often lethal complication of chronic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which may occurs in patients with idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) and potentially in those with connective tissue disorders. While rare, sudden death often occurs secondary to acute cardiac tamponade, as the pulmonary artery dissects into the pericardium; this diagnosis is often made postmortem. Nevertheless, with the proliferation of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) as a diagnostic test, patients may be identified very early after symptom onset, prompting rapid intervention with decreased morbidity and mortality. We report a case of IPAH complicated by pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA) and PAD, diagnosed by CT pulmonary angiogram (CTPA), and treated with bilateral lung transplantation, pulmonic valve replacement, and re-anastomosis of the donor main PA to a pulmonary valve conduit.

• Rupture of the pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA) is a rare cause of cardiac tamponade and sudden unexpected death. • PAA is commonly associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension. • Persistent ductus arteriosus (PDA) is the most common congenital cardiovascular anomaly in PAA. Cardiac tamponade from ruptured intrathoracic organs can lead to sudden cardiac death. In rare circumstances, the pulmonary artery can be the source of hemopericardium. We describe a case of a 62-year-old woman with no significant past medical history, who presented with sudden unexpected death. A forensic autopsy revealed 500 ml of hemopericardium. Further dissection demonstrated a saccular aneurysm in the pulmonary artery trunk, along with the evidence of prior dissection, i.e., neointimal layer. Persistent ductus arteriosus (PDA) was also present. Pulmonary artery aneurysms (PAA) are rare and often associated with congenital heart disease (CHD). PDA is the most common CHD related to PAA. Secondary pulmonary hypertension makes the pulmonary artery vulnerable to medial degeneration and increases the risk of dissection and rupture. Careful inspection of the great vessels and congenital anomalies are essential in the forensic autopsies for sudden death investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary artery dissection (PAD) is a rare disease. This article reports the treatment of PAD in young infants for the first time. Both cases of the infants were treated with surgery. Different surgical methods achieve different results, which provide ideas for treating PAD in young infants.

The article presents a case study of a 20-year-old male patient with pulmonary artery dissection secondary to a ventricular septal defect and pulmonary valve stenosis. Topics discussed include diagnostic imaging techniques, the pathological features of pulmonary artery dissection, and the importance of early surgical intervention.

Aortopulmonary fistula with/without pulmonary artery dissection is an extremely rare and fatal complication of acute aortic dissection and is often discovered postmortem. We present a case with a simultaneous ascending aortic dissection and pulmonary artery dissection combined by aortopulmonary fistula after aortic valve surgery. However, the patient died of postoperative complications after surgery. Herein, the anatomical basis for this rare entity and its outcome is explored with an emphasis.

Pulmonary artery dissection is an exceedingly rare and highly lethal diagnosis that can result in arterial rupture; hence, it is most often identified postmortem. Moreover, pulmonary artery complications resulting from aortic dissection are uncommon occurrences that have seemingly only been reported in cases of Stanford type A aortic dissections. Due to the rarity of pulmonary artery dissections, there is no current established algorithm for treatment of these patients, unlike aortic dissections. We herein present a case of a 40-year-old male with history of uncontrolled hypertension who developed acute back and leg pain that was subsequently diagnosed with a Stanford type B aortic dissection that extended into the main pulmonary artery by way of the ductus arteriosus. Although the patient received appropriate care for his aortic dissection and hypertensive emergency, he eventually died due to development of extensive additional vascular insults: cerebrovascular accidents, compartment syndrome, and myocardial infarction. To our knowledge, this is the first case of combined pulmonary artery dissection and Stanford type B dissection in the literature, which unfortunately adds to the understanding that cases of pulmonary artery dissection tend to have a grim prognosis.

A patient with chronic pulmonary artery hypertension and acute dissection of a main and right pulmonary aneurysm (82 mm) presented with acute myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock secondary to compression of the left main coronary artery. She required emergency pulmonary artery replacement. She ultimately died due to multiorgan failure and sepsis. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.)

Pulmonary artery dissection is rare but highly lethal. Recent reports suggest that surgical repair of pulmonary artery dissection may yield good outcomes in selected patients, although postoperative right ventricular failure and death have been described. Currently, only one patient over age 60 years old has been reported to survive open surgical repair of pulmonary artery dissection. Here, we present the case of a sexagenarian with pulmonary artery hypertension complicated by a dissected pulmonary artery aneurysm which was successfully repaired using a composite valve-tube graft under a beating-heart strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A middle-aged woman with unrepaired congenital heart disease died suddenly from asphyxia due to hemoptysis. Postmortem computed tomography, autopsy, and histological examinations revealed the presence of an aneurysm and dissection of the right main pulmonary artery with intraluminal thrombus. The observed congenital heart diseases included patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect, and right-sided aorta. These anomalies predisposed her to left to right shunt, resulting not only in pulmonary artery hypertension and right ventricular hypertrophy, but also pulmonary artery aneurysm and dissection. Histological examinations confirmed the presence of medial degeneration and elastic fiber disruption, as well as muscular hyperplasia of the vasa vasorum and follicular infiltration of the lymphocytes and plasma cells in the main pulmonary artery. These changes may have contributed to the pathogenesis of the aneurysm and dissection through the induction of arterial wall fragility. Histology demonstrated, in addition to findings of pulmonary hypertension, such as plexiform lesions, medial-intimal hyperplasia, and veno-occlusive lesion, unique findings related to multiple dissections of the intra-pulmonary elastic arteries, which may have caused the lethal hemoptysis.

Spontaneous pulmonary artery dissection is a rare catastrophic emergency. Its clinical course and natural history is not well studied due to paucity of available cases in the literature, so optimal management guidelines are lacking. Easy availability of bedside echocardiography has made early diagnosis of these near-miss cases possible. We describe a case of a 36-year-old male, a known case of Eisenmenger's syndrome (secondary to unoperated large ventricular septal defect), who presented to us in cardiogenic shock due to spontaneous main pulmonary artery dissection readily diagnosed and confirmed by bedside three-dimensional echocardiography.

To confirm the pulmonary artery dissection and exclude aortic dissection, contrast-enhanced computed tomography was performed and showed an intimal flap in the greatly dilated MPA (Panel B1, B2, B3, and B4). Keywords: Pulmonary artery dissection; pulmonary hypertension; echocardiography; computed tomography EN Pulmonary artery dissection pulmonary hypertension echocardiography computed tomography 478 479 2 05/31/23 20230601 NES 230601 A 55-year-old woman with a main complain of shortness of breath was referred to our centre with the suspicion of heart disease. [Extracted from the article]

Pulmonary artery dissection is rarer than other intraluminal diseases of pulmonary artery such as pulmonary thromboembolism or pulmonary artery sarcoma. We report two cases of pulmonary artery dissection mimicking pulmonary artery sarcoma. Computed tomography (CT) showed no enhancement of intrapulmonary arterial lesion or expansion of involved pulmonary artery. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed low-signal intensity intimal flap on T1- and T2-weighted images. There was no fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake on positron emission tomography (PET)-CT. In this case report, we describe the imaging features of pulmonary artery dissection on CT, MRI, and PET-CT.

Abstract Background Prevalence and prognostic significance of pulmonary artery (PA) dilatation in congenital heart disease (CHD) have never been studied systematically. Methods Chest X-rays of 1192 consecutive adults with CHD were reviewed. Major diameter of the PA was determined by imaging techniques in those with PA dilatation. A value >29 mm was considered abnormal. Data on anatomy, hemodynamics, residual lesions and outcomes were retrospectively collected. Results Overall prevalence of PA dilatation was 18%. A minority of patients (5.5%) reached 40 mm (aneurysm; PAA) and 1.8% exceeded 50 mm. The most common PAA underlying malformations were pulmonary stenosis (21%), and shunts (55%). Significantly larger diameters were observed in hypertensive shunts (40 mm; IQR 36.7–45 mm vs. 34 mm; IQR 32–36 mm) (p < 0.0001). However, the largest diameters were found in cono-truncal anomalies. There was no significant correlation between PA dimensions and systolic pulmonary pressure (r = −0.196), trans-pulmonary gradient (r = −0.203), pulmonary regurgitation (PR) (r = 0.071) or magnitude of shunt (r = 0.137) (p > 0.05 for all). Over follow-up, 1 sudden death (SD) occurred in one Eisenmenger patient. Complications included coronary (3), recurrent laryngeal nerve (1) and airway (1) compressions, progressive PR (1), and PA thrombosis (1). Coronary compression and SD were strongly associated (univariate analysis) with pulmonary hypertension (120 vs. 55 mm Hg; p = 0.002) but not with extreme PA dilatation (range: 40–65 mm). Conclusions PA dilatation in CHD is common but only a small percentage of patients have PAA. Clinical impact on outcomes is low. Complications occurred almost exclusively in patients with pulmonary hypertension whereas PA diameter alone was not associated with adverse outcomes. Highlights • Pulmonary artery aneurysms are rare in adults with congenital heart disease, even though dilatation is a common finding. • Clinical impact of pulmonary artery dilatation on outcomes of patients with congenital heart disease is low • Complications occurr almost exclusively in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Dilatation alone is not related with adverse outcomes [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses case studies of woman with a previous atrial septal defect correction and diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), woman with PAH development after surgical correction of a ventricular septal defect, and man with a large pulmonary artery (PA) (66 mm) causing left main coronary artery compression.

A 41-yr-old patient with chronic stable idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) presented with sudden chest pain and unusual dyspnoea during physical exertion. The patient had been diagnosed with PAH at the age of 12 yrs and was in New York Heart Association functional class I/II. The patient was being treated with an anticoagulant regimen, low-dose diuretics and continuous intravenous epoprostenol therapy. A computed tomography scan showed ancient massive thrombi in dilated central pulmonary arteries, which were not haemodynamically significant (perfusion lung scans did not demonstrate segmental or larger defects), and extensive dissection of the right pulmonary artery starting from the intermediate branch. Due to the extensiveness of the dissection, the patient was immediately considered for heart–lung transplantation, but died 72 h after the onset of symptoms. Permission for post mortem examination was denied. Pulmonary artery dissection should be suspected in PAH patients presenting with chest pain and worsening dyspnoea. In the current case, the factors possibly associated with increased risk for dissection may include dilatation of the pulmonary artery, local inflammation favoured by in situ thrombosis, and acute increase of pulmonary pressure secondary to physical exertion. Extensive pulmonary artery dissection is a life-threatening complication of PAH, and urgent heart/lung transplantation might be the treatment of choice in eligible patients. In addition, better identification of the risk factors for pulmonary artery dissection may help in considering transplantation for selected patients at risk.

An aortopulmonary artery fistula combined with aortic and pulmonary artery dissection is extremely rare, and very few cases have been reported to date. Herein, we present a 38-year-old man with huge ascending aortic, arch and thoraco-abdominal aneurysms with chronic aortic dissection, pulmonary artery dissection and aortopulmonary fistula. Surgery was performed to replace the ascending aorta and the entire arch combined with a conventional elephant trunk implantation to correct the pulmonary artery dissection and repair the aortopulmonary fistula under selective cerebral perfusion with deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. The patient recovered uneventfully. A second-stage operation will be needed to replace the thoraco-abdominal aorta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary valve replacement ( PVR) is the most common adult congenital cardiac operation performed. Valve degeneration leading to prosthetic stenosis and/or regurgitation is a long-term risk in this population and may be associated with paravalvular leak ( PVL). Complications involving the proximal pulmonary artery, including dissection, are less clearly defined. Herein, we report the case of a 30-year-old patient with a history of multiple pulmonary valve interventions secondary to congenital pulmonic stenosis, who developed dehiscence of a bioprosthetic PVR associated with significant paravalvular leak ( PVL) and further complicated by a focal dissection of the proximal pulmonary artery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dissection of the pulmonary artery is an extremely rare disease that is related to the presence of severe pulmonary hypertension of long evolution, in the course of congenital heart diseases or primary pulmonary hypertension. This is the case of a woman with a history of ostium secundum type atrial septal defect that refused to undergo surgical treatment and presented suprasystemic pulmonary hypertension secondary to Eisenmenger's syndrome, in the course of its natural evolution, and comes to our hospital complaining of chest pain and dyspnea at rest, and where pulmonary artery dissection was diagnosed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: Disclosures of conflicts of interest: R.O. No relevant relationships. K.K. No relevant relationships. J.E.R. No relevant relationships. R.J.A. Consulting fees from Invicro for reading of prostate cancer PET/CT.

The article presents a case study of 78-year-old male patient with known chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). It mentions diagnosis of pulmonary artery dissection, medial degeneration of elastic fibres and dilatation of the pulmonary arterial tree; and also mentions mortality rate of patients with pulmonary artery dissection.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease of small pulmonary arteries, characterized by vascular proliferation and remodeling. Progressive increase in pulmonary vascular resistance ultimately leads to right ventricular heart failure and death. PAH-specific drug therapy has improved clinical outcomes and survival. While the survival is better, progression of pulmonary vasculopathy contributes to pulmonary artery dilatation. Left main compression syndrome, pulmonary artery dissection, pulmonary artery rupture, and severe hemoptysis are reported as complications leading to sudden cardiac death, an event encountered more often in PAH patients. The advent of PAH-targeted drug therapy has reduced referral for lung transplantation; however, severe complications require rapid diagnosis, decision making, and possible registration on a lung transplantation waiting list. PAH referral centers provide multidisciplinary emergency care and specific therapeutic management, contributing to improved quality of life and survival for PAH patients. We review the complications leading to sudden death in PAH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

70 year-old female with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) presented with typical symptoms of an exacerbation of COPD. Management of COPD resolved her wheezing, but ongoing hypoxia and retrospective history of atypical chest pain prompted exclusion of a pulmonary embolus. A CT Pulmonary Angiogram (CTPA) with standard 64-slice CT revealed an extensive non-occlusive defect in a grossly dilated right pulmonary artery. Presence of circumferential cuff of soft tissue within sub-segmental pulmonary artery branch raised the possibility of pulmonary artery dissection (PAD). Exclusion of PAD was important as it precluded full anticoagulation. A dynamic CT-digital subtraction angiography (CT-DSA) with the 320-slice multidetector CT (Aquilion-one Vision, Toshiba) did not reveal any intimal flap or contrast extension into the pulmonary arterial wall, suggesting it is unlikely to be PAD. The patient was started on full anticoagulation and reported improvement of symptoms with reduction in pulmonary thrombus burden on repeat CTPA at 4 weeks. To our knowledge, this is the first reported use of dynamic CT-DSA in ruling out PAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary artery dissections typically occur at the site of a pulmonary artery aneurysm associated with pulmonary hypertension or connective tissue disease. Dyspnea on exertion, retrosternal chest pain, central cyanosis, and sudden hemodynamic decompensation are the four main clinical signs and symptoms associated with a pulmonary artery dissection. Diagnosis of a pulmonary artery dissection frequently occurs postmortem, as many of these patients experience sudden death when the main pulmonary artery dissects into the pericardium, causing acute cardiac tamponade. Pulmonary artery dissection has been diagnosed in living patients using transthoracic echocardiogram, computed tomography (CT) scanning, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and angiography. Surgery is curative. Emergency physicians should consider the diagnosis of pulmonary artery dissection in patients presenting with either retrosternal chest pain, dyspnea on exertion, central cyanosis, or sudden hemodynamic decompensation and who have a past medical history of pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary artery surgery, or a disease causing chronic inflammation of myocardial or vascular tissue. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pulmonary artery dissection in patients without underlying pulmonary hypertension Aims: Pulmonary artery (PA) dissection is a rare event which usually occurs in patients with underlying pulmonary hypertension. We describe two patients who developed PA dissection without pre-existing pulmonary hypertension and present an extensive review of the literature. Methods and results: In the first patient (a 59-year-old woman), acute-onset dyspnoea was initially thought to have been caused by pulmonary thrombosis, and thromboendarterectomy was performed. Histologically, pulmonary dissection without external rupture was evident, chiefly in the right main PA. In the second patient, an 85-year-old man who had hypergammaglobulinaemia of unknown cause and died from a haemorrhagic gastric ulcer, arterial dissection was detected at autopsy. There was no underlying pulmonary hypertension in either patient. Although the true reason for the development of dissection is unclear, pre-existing inflammation was considered to be related to its formation, at least in the second case. Conclusions: A literature review indicated that idiopathic and inflammation-related PA dissection is extremely unusual. Since PA dissection is very rare, it is important to be aware of its features in order to make a correct diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]