Biomarkers for diagnosis in thoracic aortic disease: PRO.

Identification of biomarkers for thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) disease is important because complications of TAAs are common. Preemptive operative repair of TAAs is effective in improving survival. However, elective surgical repair for asymptomatic aneurysms remains a clinical decision that must be based on the patient's operative risk and the risk that a given TAA will rupture. Thus, it is vitally important to be able to identify which patients with TAAs are at the greatest risk for rupture or dissection. Markers in clinical use and potential markers at the cellular, protein, and molecular level are discussed.