John Ritter Disease Need Not Be Deadly

Ninety percent who survive surgery and hospitalization for aortic dissection, what killed actor John Ritter, were alive three years later, a U.S. study finds.

Those without pre-existing heart and blood-vessel problems were even more likely to survive, according to the study published in a supplement to the journal Circulation.

University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center researchers treated 303 patients in the 1990s and early 2000s for the most serious form of aortic dissection, called Type A, which occurs in the upper part of the aorta near the heart. Aortic dissection is a tear in the aorta that is often misdiagnosed.

Researchers are hopeful that early diagnosis and rapid treatment will increase as more hospitals use advanced medical imaging to determine what is causing chest pain in patients who come to emergency rooms, according to lead author Dr. Thomas Tsai, a cardiovascular research fellow at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Advanced CT scanners, for example, can make a triple rule-out scan that can quickly tell if a patient is experiencing a heart attack, an aortic dissection, or a blood clot in the lung, but the right kind of scan is needed or a dissection can be missed.