Final answer:
Referred pain of a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm is usually felt between the shoulder blades due to the convergence of neural pathways in the spinal cord, leading to a misinterpretation of pain location by the brain.
Step-by-step explanation:
A dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm produces referred pain that is typically felt in a specific region of the body due to the way visceral sensations are projected via the nervous system. In the case of a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm, the referred pain is often felt between the shoulder blades (C). This is because the abdominal aorta is located near the spinal cord levels that also receive sensory information from the areas between the shoulder blades.
The phenomenon of referred pain occurs when visceral sensory fibers and somatosensory fibers converge at the same spinal cord levels, leading the brain to misinterpret visceral sensations as coming from other, often distant, regions of the body. In the context of the abdominal aorta and its related discomfort, this misinterpretation causes the sensation of pain to be experienced in areas that are innervated by the same or nearby spinal segments to which the visceral sensations are transmitted.