A Stitch In Time Saves Lives: High Survival Seen For Patients With Condition That Killed John Ritter

... Nearly three years ago, actor John Ritter collapsed on the set of his sitcom, the victim of a rare but often deadly condition called aortic dissection -- a tear in the largest blood vessel in the body. Now, researchers have published some rare good news about the condition, showing that 90 percent of patients who survive emergency surgery and hospitalization for its most serious form will still be alive three years later. ...