Acute aortic dissection with right-sided chest and back pain accompanied by left-sided limb dyskinesia

We retrospectively studied the diagnosis and treatment of a case of AAD misdiagnosed as stroke since atypical symptoms as the first manifestation, and discussed the clinical features and manifestations, diagnosis, and differential diagnosis of the case in the context of relevant domestic and international literature. The patient, a 49‑year-old male with herpes zoster for more than 1 month, presented with sudden onset of right-sided chest and back pain, accompanied by numbness and weakness of the left limb, and was tentatively diagnosed with post-herpetic neuralgia combined with stroke due to the history of herpes zoster. Non-specific ST-T alterations, D-dimer 20ug / ml, and non-traumatic angiographic findings in the transthoracic and abdominal aorta demonstrated slight thickening of the patient’s ascending aorta, and the lumen of the root sinus region showed intimal flap formation with a larger pseudocoel and smaller true lumen, which ultimately confirmed the diagnosis of acute aortic coarctation with atypical presentation. So clinicians need to improve their basic theoretical knowledge, strengthen the understanding of AAD, focus on physical examination, improve relevant auxiliary examinations expeditiously, and pay attention to the significance of specific auxiliary examinations in order to decrease misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis of atypical manifestations of AAD patients.

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