Acute Stanford type A aortic dissection is one of the most dangerous diseases, and most of these patients die in the acute period when the disease occurs. Therefore, the clinical treatment is rather difficult, and few patients will survive to the chronic period. At present, the cause and mechanism of this disease are not clear, and the most effective treatment is surgery. Although the surgical techniques have improved constantly, the mortality of this disease is still very high. In this paper, we mainly analyze the current situation of surgical treatment of acute Stanford type A aortic dissection and briefly describe the recent progress in the research of this disease, with an aim to provide a reference for its future treatment.