Bypassing a dilemma: intraoperative coronary angiography in acute aortic dissection

Untreated coronary artery disease may complicate the clinical course of patients with Stanford type A acute aortic dissection. In these patients the role of coronary angiography for the assessment of coronary circulation is controversial and it is considered by some time consuming thus increasing the risk of rupture. We describe a case of acute type A aortic dissection that illustrates our approach to this problem.