Acute aortic dissection (AAD) remains an emergency which is associated with high morbidity and mortality. After the onset of symptoms, the mortality rate of AAD is 1–2% per hour during the first 48 hours without surgical intervention, increasing to 25% after 30 days. However, prompt diagnosis and management of AAD is difficult to be achieved due to its relatively rare frequency and its wide spectrum of clinical presentation. The risk of missed dissections is up to 40%. The timely treatment of AAD is complicated by up to 24-hours delay between the symptoms’ onset and diagnosis of AAD and even more by the transportation time from non-specialized hospitals to designated aortic surgical centers. Currently, definitive diagnosis requires imaging such as computed tomography, transesophageal echocardiography, or magnetic resonance imaging; services which may not be available in every Emergency Room. Within this context, there is a constant need for sensitive and speci?c biomarkers for the diagnosis of the AAD, allowing for a prompt direction towards an optimal treatment and subsequently improved prognosis.
A rapidly evolving series of events are related to the pathogenesis of AAD and accordingly, several biomarkers can be investigated as potential predictors of each of these events. They may reflect an ongoing thrombosis (D-dimer, fibrinogen), an inflammatory response (CRP, cytokines) which is followed by the destruction of the elastic tissue and the smooth muscles as well as collagen turnover (matrix metalloproteinases, elastin, endothelin, smooth muscle heavy chain myosin). There is growing evidence of the potential value of miRNAs as diagnostic tools with a long enough time-window for positively identifying AAD among healthy controls and chest pain patients.The scope of this Research Topic is to enrich the literature with research aiming to a better comprehension of the role of the currently available biomarkers and the discovery and characterization of other candidate biomarkers.
This Research Topic focuses on studies investigating biomarkers as potential diagnostic and prognostic tools for AAD, thus improving clinical care and the patients outcome. The topic shall include all type of manuscripts dealing with the most recent progress in the following areas:
1) Use of biomarkers in disease severity.
2) Use of biomarkers for monitoring progression of the disease.
3) Role of biomarkers in risk stratification alone or in combination with other parameters in diagnostic algorithms.
4) Role of biomarkers in therapeutic management.
5) Use of biomarkers in postoperative outcomes prediction.
Acute aortic dissection (AAD) remains an emergency which is associated with high morbidity and mortality. After the onset of symptoms, the mortality rate of AAD is 1–2% per hour during the first 48 hours without surgical intervention, increasing to 25% after 30 days. However, prompt diagnosis and management of AAD is difficult to be achieved due to its relatively rare frequency and its wide spectrum of clinical presentation. The risk of missed dissections is up to 40%. The timely treatment of AAD is complicated by up to 24-hours delay between the symptoms’ onset and diagnosis of AAD and even more by the transportation time from non-specialized hospitals to designated aortic surgical centers. Currently, definitive diagnosis requires imaging such as computed tomography, transesophageal echocardiography, or magnetic resonance imaging; services which may not be available in every Emergency Room. Within this context, there is a constant need for sensitive and speci?c biomarkers for the diagnosis of the AAD, allowing for a prompt direction towards an optimal treatment and subsequently improved prognosis.
A rapidly evolving series of events are related to the pathogenesis of AAD and accordingly, several biomarkers can be investigated as potential predictors of each of these events. They may reflect an ongoing thrombosis (D-dimer, fibrinogen), an inflammatory response (CRP, cytokines) which is followed by the destruction of the elastic tissue and the smooth muscles as well as collagen turnover (matrix metalloproteinases, elastin, endothelin, smooth muscle heavy chain myosin). There is growing evidence of the potential value of miRNAs as diagnostic tools with a long enough time-window for positively identifying AAD among healthy controls and chest pain patients.The scope of this Research Topic is to enrich the literature with research aiming to a better comprehension of the role of the currently available biomarkers and the discovery and characterization of other candidate biomarkers.
This Research Topic focuses on studies investigating biomarkers as potential diagnostic and prognostic tools for AAD, thus improving clinical care and the patients outcome. The topic shall include all type of manuscripts dealing with the most recent progress in the following areas:
1) Use of biomarkers in disease severity.
2) Use of biomarkers for monitoring progression of the disease.
3) Role of biomarkers in risk stratification alone or in combination with other parameters in diagnostic algorithms.
4) Role of biomarkers in therapeutic management.
5) Use of biomarkers in postoperative outcomes prediction.