• Yoel Siegel.
• Department of Radiology Thoracic and Abdominal Imaging, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Miami, FL 33136, USA. ysiegel@med.miami.edu
• Am J Emerg Med. 2013 Apr 1;31(4):755.e5-7.

AbstractAcute aortic syndrome is a spectrum of diseases that have similar presentation and clinical background and include aortic dissection, intramural hematoma, and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer. Presented here is an 82-year-old woman with a medical history of diabetes, hypertension, nephrectomy, and chronic renal failure who complained of sudden abdominal pain radiating to epigastrium and back. At presentation, the patient was hemodynamically stable with a hemoglobin level of 10.2 and white blood cell count of 12. Chest x-ray showed a right pleural effusion and lung opacity with interstitial pulmonary edema. Computed tomography demonstrated an aortic penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer that ruptured into the right pleural space resulting in right hemothorax. A percutaneous endostent was placed with subsequent discharge of the patient 10 days after admission.

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