Letter from the Guest Editor

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The radiological evaluation of the thoracic aorta has changed dramatically over the past few years. The advent of multidetector computed tomography (CT) has enabled us to acquire a volumetric data set of the entire thoracic aorta in a single breath hold. As our imaging capabilities have advanced, surgical approaches to aortic pathologies have changed as well. Improvements in cardiopulmonary bypass and the development of percutaneous endovascular aortic stent grafts have resulted in new surgical approaches to the treatment of aortic pathology. Radiologists need to understand these new techniques to correctly evaluate the preoperative and postoperative aorta.

In this edition of Seminars of Roentgenology, we present a comprehensive review of recent developments in the radiological and surgical approaches to the thoracic aorta. Drs. Alexander and Rubin discuss how to optimize new imaging techniques for evaluation of the aorta. Dr. Birchard reviews the radiologic appearance of the acute aortic syndromes as well as acute traumatic aortic injury. Drs. Parsa and Hughes explain the surgical approaches to the thoracic aorta, and describe what surgeons need to know from the radiologist before operating on the aorta. Drs. Hoang, Martinez, and Hurwitz provide a comprehensive description of the radiological appearance of the postoperative aorta, including both the normal postoperative appearance as well as the appearance of postsurgical complications.

I would like to thank all of the authors for their diligence and hard work, and congratulate them on their end result. They have succeeded in writing a collection that will prove invaluable to radiologists at all levels of training.