Offers a summary of various aspects of aortic disease. This book helps the reader understand the aorta as a functional organ with a complex regulatory system rather than just a major arterial vessel. It places the aorta in the center of systemic illnesses. It portrays the aorta as an integral part of the cardiovascular system.

1. Aortic Dissection.- 1.1. Introduction.- 1.2. Definition.- 1.3. Etiology and pathogenesis.- 1.4. Classification.- 1.5. Clinical presentation.- 1.6. Diagnosis.- 1.7. Management of acute aortic dissection.- 1.8. References.- 2. Aortic Aneurysm.- 2.1. Etiology.- 2.2. Pathophysiology.- 2.3. Diagnostic approach.- 2.4. References.- 3. Surgical Treatment of Aortic Aneurysms.- 3.1. Introduction.- 3.2. Pathogenesis and natural history.- 3.3. Diagnosis.- 3.4. Indications for surgery.- 3.5. Surgical techniques.- 3.6. Results.- 3.7. Endovascular stent-grafting of descending thoracic aortic aneurysm.- 3.8. Endovascular stent-grafting of abdominal aortic aneurysm.- 3.9. Summary.- 3.10. References.- 4. Inherited Disorders of the Aorta.- 4.1. Introduction.- 4.2. Single gene disorders.- 4.3. Genetic basis to common aortic diseases.- 4.4. Acknowledgments.- 4.5. References.- 5. Aortic Trauma.- 5.1. Demography and mechanism.- 5.2. Pathology.- 5.3. Clinical presentation.- 5.4. Natural history.- 5.5. Infrequent locations of traumatic aortic lesion.- 5.6. Diagnosis.- 5.7. Acknowledgments.- 5.8. References.- 6. Aortitis.- 6.1. Introduction.- 6.2. Etiology and historical perspective to Takayasu’s aortitis.- 6.3. Pathophysiology.- 6.4. Diagnostic procedures.- 6.5. Pathology.- 6.6. Treatment/management.- 6.7. Outcome.- 6.8. Other aortic inflammatory diseases.- 6.9. Conclusion.- 6.10. References.- 7. Etiology and Pathology of the Aortic Arch Malformations.- 7.1. Development of the aortic arch system.- 7.2. Obstructive anomalies of the aortic arch.- 7.3. Other anomalies of the aortic arch.- 7.4. Supravalvular aortic stenosis.- 7.5. Dysplasia of the great arteries [“Maccheroni syndrome”].- 7.6. Bicuspid aortic valve and aortic dissection.- 7.7. Anatomo-pathologic experience at the Universityof Padua.- 7.8. References.

`References are both comprehensive and unusually current. This is an excellent volume to find information about aortic pathology, particularly of the thoracic aorta. It also has a good discussion of modern diagnostic techniques ... will be of most value to cardiologists, interventionalists, and pathologists rather than surgeons.' Journal of Vascular Surgery (March 2000)