Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dandan Jiang, a good wife and a loving mother of her
family, for her contributions to the data collection and statistical
review and for providing emotional support to Dr. Qu Chen.
Figure 1 CONSORT
Diagram of Patient Selection
The CONSORT diagram of the patient selection process is illustrated in
this figure. The definition of
“uncomplicated” was based on the status of the syndrome after medical
treatment (without signs of aortic rupture on admission and well
controlled chest/back pain) and the radiographic findings from computed
tomography angiography examinations upon admission (without periaortic
hematoma or ulcer-like projection) [1][4]. Eligible
uncomplicated type B IMH patients who refused further medical treatments
and those without complete imaging records, laboratory test results and
follow-up data were considered missing data. Patients who refused
further treatment, who had incomplete imaging, etc., were excluded.