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Point-of-Care Ultrasound can help to identify signs of thoracic aortic dissection.
One view to help in your assessment is the Parasternal Long Axis View.
- The aortic root should be in a 1:1:1 ratio with the left atrium and the right ventricle.
- The aortic root should be less than 4 cm (4.5 cm considered aneurysmal)
To correctly measure the aortic root:
- Measure at the Sinus of Valsalva
- Measure during diastole (when the aortic valve is closed)
- Measure leading edge to leading edge
Here is an example of an aortic root aneurysm:
References
Kennedy Hall M, Coffey EC, Herbst M, Liu R, Pare JR, Andrew Taylor R, Thomas S, Moore CL. The "5Es" of emergency physician-performed focused cardiac ultrasound: a protocol for rapid identification of effusion, ejection, equality, exit, and entrance. Acad Emerg Med. 2015 May;22(5):583-93. doi: 10.1111/acem.12652.