Busted! 8 Myths about Acute Aortic Dissection - a new resource for AD Awareness Month
September is Aortic Dissection Awareness Month. The life-saving THINK AORTA campaign has launched a new downloadable "mythbuster" resource, to tackle old thinking about the disease among frontline clinicians and improve patient safety.
Aortic Dissection Awareness for Healthcare Professionals
How many of these statements would you bet your clinical reputation on?
- “Acute Aortic Dissection is extremely rare.”
- “Patients always present with ripping chest pain.”
- “Aortic Dissection is a disease of the over 65s.”
- “Even if you make the diagnosis, outcomes are generally poor.”
If any of those sound familiar, THINK AORTA’s new myth-buster is for you:
This September, to mark Aortic Dissection Awareness Month, the global THINK AORTA campaign launches “Busted! 8 Myths about acute Aortic Dissection” - a concise, evidence-based new resource aimed squarely at frontline paramedics and emergency medicine clinicians, radiologists, and acute care teams.
Cutting through the myths that cost lives
Despite advances in imaging and treatment, up to 40% of aortic dissections are missed at first presentation. Why? Because outdated myths still shape diagnostic decisions.
- Aortic dissections are not confined to the elderly: they can strike younger patients, pregnant women, and those with inherited aortic conditions.
- Pain isn’t always “ripping and tearing”: it can be transient, migratory, or even subside completely after onset.
- And outcomes are not inevitably grim: early diagnosis and timely intervention save lives - and there is a growing community of survivors to prove it.
A tool endorsed by experts
“Busted! 8 Myths about acute Aortic Dissection” lays out the facts, challenges misconceptions and provides the latest clinical thinking, supported by evidence from national guidelines, real-world data, and specialist consensus. As a learning resource, it reinforces the optimum diagnostic pathway endorsed by leading medical and surgical societies around the world: THINK AORTA → CT scan to confirm or exclude.
A call to action
This Aortic Dissection Awareness Month, THINK AORTA is urging healthcare professionals around the world to:
- Download the mythbuster
- Share it with colleagues, trainees, and students
- Embed it in teaching sessions, clinical updates, and departmental guidelines
Because when myths die, patients live.
Download & share “Busted! 8 Myths about acute Aortic Dissection" today!
