The Diagnosis of Thoracic Aortic Dissection by Noninvasive Imaging Procedures

To the Editor: The paper by Nienaber et al.¹ and the review article by Cigarroa et al.² (Jan. 7 issue) on diagnosing thoracic aortic dissection demonstrate the problems of evaluating rapidly developing imaging techniques. Progress in computed tomographic (CT) scanning and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is so rapid that the results of studies carried out over a five-year period¹ or reported in the late 1970s and 1980s do not reflect the best current standards of clinical imaging. The CT technique used by Nienaber et al.¹ was satisfactory for the older scanner (Somatom II) used in their study but not for…