Factitious Appearance of Aortic Dissection During Portable Cardiopulmonary Bypass—A Case Report

Abstract

The use of percutaneous cardiopulmonary bypass support (PCPS) has in creased as an aggressive resuscitative measure for hemodynamically compromised patients and for support during high-risk coronary angioplasty or valvuloplasty. The authors present a patient with an acute myocardial infarction and shock, in whom aortography during PCPS simulated the appearance of a Type B aor tic dissection, with apparent compression of contrast dye by a nonopacified false channel. The etiology appears to be the competitive flow between the normal forward cardiac ejection and the retrograde cardiopulmonary flow. Low cardi ac output and the differences in density between blood and radiographic dye exaggerate this phenomenon.