The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust

02/10/2026

The Beating Bias JLA Priority Setting Partnership, funded by Heart Research UK, has now reached its second stage.

This is your opportunity to help decide which questions matter most. Choose the 10 questions you feel should be prioritised for future research into women’s cardiovascular health.

Whether or not you took part in the first survey, the team at King's College London still wants to hear from you.

It is also great to see specific questions included in the longlist, giving our community an important opportunity to have its say.

Your questions for women's cardiovascular health - we need your help

24/09/2026

More specialist aortic care is coming to South Tees.

The Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust has awarded South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust funding for a dedicated TADCT Aortic Advanced Practitioner, strengthening lifelong care and support for patients and families across the region.

A dedicated specialist will help coordinate lifelong follow-up, surveillance and patient and family support. Importantly, the funding will help South Tees build a sustainable service to meet the growing volume and complexity of aortic care across Teesside, North Yorkshire, Durham and Cumbria.

Our incredible community of fundraisers and corporate donors made this possible. Thank you for helping us turn fundraising into better patient care.

Read more about the 2026 award

South Tees receives charity funding for an Aortic Advanced Practitioner, improving specialist care and lifelong support for aortic patients.

20/09/2026

From Suss*x to Scotland, Dover to Dudley, Bristol to Banstead and many more, parkruns up and down the country marked Aortic Dissection Awareness Day yesterday, supported by the incredible .

During the pre-run briefings, many parkruns took a moment to recognise the day and explain what an aortic dissection is. As the Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust hear so often, many people have simply never heard of aortic dissection before. That’s why efforts like this really can make a difference, introducing the condition to thousands of people in communities across the country.

A huge thank you to everyone from who took part, whether you were running, walking or volunteering. Every time you wear a TADCT tshirt, you help start conversations and raise awareness.

19/09/2026

Today is Aortic Dissection Awareness Day. Know the signs.

Sudden, severe chest, back or abdominal pain is a typical symptom of aortic dissection. But some cases are painless or present in unexpected ways. Sometimes the only signs are neurological, such as sudden weakness, difficulty speaking, fainting or collapse.

Seek emergency medical help immediately for sudden, severe chest, back or abdominal pain, or signs of a stroke.

Watch and share this to help more people recognise the signs.

17/09/2026

It’s been a busy September for the Aortic Dissection Charitable Trust and our patient advocates.

Over the past two weeks, the charity has been represented at BioMedEng26, the UKAS - UK Aortic Society Annual Meeting, Global Aorta Symposium, the Interdisciplinary Aortic Dissection Symposium and AORTIC LIVE.

Many of these events included dedicated lived experience sessions delivered by the charity and our education team. These sessions bring the realities of aortic dissection into clinical, surgical and research discussions, helping ensure that conversations about improving care remain grounded in what matters most to patients and families.

A huge thank you to our patient advocates for sharing their experiences, and to the event organisers for recognising the importance of including the patient voice.

And September isn’t over yet, with more events still to come, the charity will continue bringing patients and professionals together, raising awareness and pushing for change 👉 tadct.org/events

15/09/2026

Aortic dissection continues to be on the agenda at the Scottish Parliament.

In the run up to Aortic Dissection Awareness Day, the charity is grateful to Adam Harley for Strathkelvin & Bearsden MSP for raising aortic dissection at First Minister’s Questions today.

Adam called for national guidance in Scotland covering the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and aftercare of aortic dissection. The charity welcomes the First Minister’s commitment to give this active consideration and for the Health Secretary to engage further with us.

The question also recognised the late Lord Jim Wallace, who campaigned alongside the charity for better aortic dissection care in Scotland.

Awareness is about more than raising the profile of aortic dissection. It is about taking action and driving change. TADCT continues to push for clear, consistent national guidance that will improve care for patients and families across Scotland.

14/09/2026

Congratulations to and all the other runners who took on the Great North Run yesterday!

Whether you were chasing that PB or collecting Strava kudos, another brilliant day on the roads, raising funds and awareness for so many great causes.

A huge thank you to everyone who ran and supported us! Oggy Oggy Oggy, Oi Oi Oi!

01/09/2026

Aortic dissection awareness starts here.

September is an important month, with Aortic Dissection Awareness Day taking place on 19th September.

We’re starting the month with a new episode of the Aortic Dissection Podcast. Patients and experts from the community come together to discuss demographic blind spots in aortic dissection, and why age, s*x and ethnicity should not shape assumptions about who can be affected.

27/08/2026

At the Global Aorta Symposium 2026, patient advocacy will be a central part of the conversation.

Catherine Fowler shares where the system can fail people affected by aortic dissection, from missed diagnosis to the challenges of recovery, and why designing care around the whole patient journey is essential.

It's great to see such a wealth of aortic dissection education growing globally, and we're pleased to be able to support key events like this.

https://aorticdissectioncharitabletrust.org/event/global-aorta-symposium-2026/

20/08/2026

We welcome this important and much needed guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. We were pleased to contribute to its development.

The College has published a new Good Practice Paper on Prevention and Management of Aortic Dissection in Pregnancy.

This document sets out management and care pathways to ensure that women at risk of aortic dissection are identified, carefully monitored, counselled and cared for throughout pregnancy.

Read the guidance: https://brnw.ch/21x51lK