London cardiologist Thomas Bevill Peacock contributed to the understanding of the condition by publishing two series of the cases described in the literature so far: 19 cases in an 1843 review, and 80 in 1863. The characteristic symptom of tearing pain in the chest was recognized in 1855 when a case was diagnosed in life.Surgery for aortic dissection was first introduced and developed by Michael E. DeBakey, Denton Cooley, and Oscar Creech, cardiac surgeons associated with the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, in 1954. DeBakey developed aortic dissection himself at age 97 in 2005, and underwent surgery in 2006. Endovascular treatment of aortic dissection was developed in the 1990s. Society and culture
Ritter Rules are a compilation of reminders, symptoms, and risk factors designed to prevent the misdiagnosis of thoracic aortic dissection. The rules were named after Threes Company star John Ritter, who died from a thoracic aortic dissection in 2003 after he was misdiagnosed and accidentally treated for a heart attack by his two doctors. The rules were developed by Dianna Milewicz of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston seven years after Ritters premature death, and were jointly published by the non-profit organization in Ritters honor and the Thoracic Aortic Disease Coalition.Lucille Ball was diagnosed with dissecting aortic aneurysm and underwent surgery to repair her aorta and a successful seven-hour aortic valve replacement, but died days later.
A greater incidence of aortic aneurysm is seen in cigarette smokers; Ball had been a heavy smoker most of her life.Playwright Jonathan Larson, best known for the musical Rent, died in 1996 of an aortic dissection believed to be due to undiagnosed Marfan Syndrome. Days of Our Lives and Babylon 5 actor Richard Biggs died on May 22, 2004 at the age of 44 due to complications from aortic dissection.Lux Interior of The Cramps died at the Glendale Memorial Hospital on February 4, 2009, at the age of 62, following an aortic dissection which, contrary to initial reports about a pre-existing condition, was "sudden, shocking and unexpected".Alan Thicke died in 2016 of type-A aortic dissection at the Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, at the age of 69.Japanese actress Hiromi Tsuru died in her car from aortic dissection in 2017 at the age of 57.Taiwanese entertainer Alien Huang died in 2020 at the age of 36.Kentaro Miura, writer and artist of the manga Berserk, died from aortic dissection in 2021 at the age of 54.In August 2021, New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns was put on full life support following an aortic dissection in his home in Canberra, Australia. He was transferred to Sydney, and became paralysed from the waist down due to sustaining a stroke during surgery. 41-year-old guitarist Richie Faulkner of the heavy metal band Judas Priest had an aortic aneurysm on September 27, 2021, in the middle of the final song of their 50-minute set at a music festival.