Thoracic aortic aneurysm differential diagnosis

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aarti Narayan, M.B.B.S [2]

Overview

Thoracic aortic aneurysms are often asymptomatic and as a result can be easily missed. If chest pain is present, it is critical to differentiate a thoracic aortic aneurysm with dissection from other potential life-threatening diseases.

Differentiating Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm from other Disorders

• Abdominal aortic aneurysms
• Acute myocardial infarction
• Congestive heart failure
• Aortic regurgitation
• Blunt chest trauma
• Hypertensive emergency
• Hemothorax
• Pneumothorax
• Pericarditis
• Pulmonary embolism
• Cardiac tamponade
• Superior vena cava syndrome

[Disease name] must be differentiated from other diseases that cause [clinical feature 1], [clinical feature 2], and [clinical feature 3], such as [differential dx1], [differential dx2], and [differential dx3].

OR

[Disease name] must be differentiated from [differential dx1], [differential dx2], and [differential dx3].

OR

As [disease name] manifests in a variety of clinical forms, differentiation must be established in accordance with the particular subtype. [Subtype name 1] must be differentiated from other diseases that cause [clinical feature 1], such as [differential dx1] and [differential dx2]. In contrast, [subtype name 2] must be differentiated from other diseases that cause [clinical feature 2], such as [differential dx3] and [differential dx4].

Differentiating [disease name] from other diseases on the basis of [symptom 1], [symptom 2], and [symptom 3]

On the basis [symptom 1], [symptom 2], and [symptom 3], [disease name] must be differentiated from [disease 1], [disease 2], [disease 3], [disease 4], [disease 5], and [disease 6].

Diseases	Clinical manifestations						Para-clinical findings							Gold standard	Additional findings
	Symptoms			Physical examination
							Lab Findings			Imaging			Histopathology
	Symptom 1	Symptom 2	Symptom 3	Physical exam 1	Physical exam 2	Physical exam 3	Lab 1	Lab 2	Lab 3	Imaging 1	Imaging 2	Imaging 3
Differential Diagnosis 1
Differential Diagnosis 2
Differential Diagnosis 3
Diseases	Symptom 1	Symptom 2	Symptom 3	Physical exam 1	Physical exam 2	Physical exam 3	Lab 1	Lab 2	Lab 3	Imaging 1	Imaging 2	Imaging 3	Histopathology	Gold standard	Additional findings
Differential Diagnosis 4
Differential Diagnosis 5
Differential Diagnosis 6