A Massive Aortic Intramural Haematoma – an Aortic Emergency

Aortic intramural haematoma (AIH) is a rarely recognized disease characterized by a sudden haemorrhage into aortic media in the absence of any intimal tear. The clinical evolution and mortality rates of AIH are similar to those of acute aortic dissection. However, in the acute clinical care of patients presenting with chest pain of aortic origin, it is important to differentiate intramural haematoma from aortic dissection. A case of an elderly patient with an intramural hematoma (IMH), which progressed to very large dimensions and involved the entire aortic wall, resulting in fatal complications is presented here.