In DeBakey Type I Aortic Dissection, Bovine Aortic Arch Is Associated With Arch Tears and Stroke

The Yale group retrospectively reviewed their experience with DeBakey type I aortic dissections to evaluate whether patients with bovine aortic arches had a unique distribution of entry sites and differential outcomes.  A total of 315 patients were included in the study, of which 49 (16%) had a bovine aortic arch.  The authors found that those patients with bovine aortic arches were 6 times more likely to have arch tears and 2.7 times more likely to suffer a stroke as those without bovine aortic arches.