Heritable thoracic aortic disorders

Heritable thoracic aortic disease (H-TAD) comprises a heterogeneous group of disorders with as a common denominator aortic aneurysm or dissection on one or several levels from the aortic annulus till the diaphragm. Depending on the presence or absence of manifestations in other organ systems, H-TAD can be further subdivided into syndromic and nonsyndromic H-TAD (NS H-TAD). For both clinical entities, multiple underlying gene defects have been identified, although we must recognize that in a substantial number of patients and families no causal mutation has been identified, defining them as "Heritable" but strictly speaking not (yet) as "Genetic.".

• View at Publisher
• View at Scopus