Type:
Educational Exhibit
Keywords:
Not applicable, Inflammation, Infection, Angioplasty, CT-Angiography, CT, Vascular, Emergency, Arteries / Aorta, Emergency Imaging
Authors:
A. J. BARRIOS LOPEZ, A. Diez Tascón, E. Lanz Santos, M. Caicoya Boto, F. García Martínez, D. Garrido Alonso, I. Pinilla Fernández, G. Garzón Moll, M. Martí De Gracia; Madrid/ES
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2020/C-00433
Background
Aortitis refers to inflammatory changes of the aortic wall. It is caused by infectious or more commonly noninfectious etiologies. Noninfectious aortitis occurs in vasculitis, collagen disorders, iatrogenic and idiopathic diseases. Infectious aortitis may be secondary to bacterial or viral pathogens.
The clinical features are nonspecific (pain, fever, vascular insufficiency and elevated acute phase reactants) and the prognoses is variable. However, the pattern of involvement and imaging features may help distinguish noninfectious from infectious causes.
Despite the several imaging modalities available for assessing aortitis, in the emergency room computed tomography (CT) is preferred for diagnosing. CT is a commonplace not invasive technique, that has good spatial resolution, allows multiplanar reformation and gives fast information about the lumen, aortic wall and other findings related to the etiology.