We describe the successful surgical repair of an acute aortic dissection that had caused an aorto-right atrial fistula in a 67-year-old man. The patient was admitted to the hospital on an emergency basis because of severe heart failure. The diagnosis of acute aortic dissection with rupture into the right atrium was confirmed by use of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography, although ru...

RATIONALE In-hospital outcomes are generally acceptable in patients with type B dissection; however, some patients present with undesirable complications, such as aortic expansion and rupture. Excessive inflammation is an independent predictor of adverse clinical outcomes. OBJECTIVE We have investigated the underlying mechanisms of catastrophic complications after acute aortic dissection (AAD...

We describe a case of a 63-year-old man with chronic-contained rupture of an abdominal aortic aneurysm at the site of prior graft repair of the aneurysm. Initially misinterpreted as osteomyelitis on the basis of CT findings, this chronic-contained rupture of the abdominal aorta eroding the vertebrae was preoperatively diagnosed at MR imaging and confirmed at surgery. A conventional angiogram fa...

We compared the cardiac output measured by the transpulmonary aortic single indicator thermodilution method with that by the pulmonary artery catheterization in a patient with ventricular septal rupture after acute myocardial infarction. Though the former cardiac output was lower than the latter, in the presence of the ventricular septal rupture, the cardiac outputs were equal after the rupture...

Rupture of thoracic aortic aneurysm is a life threatening condition. Rupture in the right pleural cavity is extremely rare. We report the case of an 80-year-old man with a spontaneous right hemothorax. Diagnosis was made by computed tomography (CT) scan. He was managed with chest tube and stabilization. The patient died before any surgical intervention. We report this case to emphasize that rup...

Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) is a modern term to describe interrelated emergency aortic conditions with similar clinical characteristics and challenges. These conditions include aortic dissection, intramural haematoma (IMH), and penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer (PAU and aortic rupture); trauma to the aorta with intimal laceration may also be considered. The common denominator of AAS is disrupti...

Left ventricular rupture is an infrequent but potentially fatal complication of mitral valve replacement. In spite of the fact that several methods of repair have previously been described, the mortality rate remains nearly 85%. The use of the intra-aortic balloon pump counterpulsation may increase the possibilities of success in the repair of this dreaded complication. We present here three ca...

DESPITE THE INCREASED GLOBAL EXPERIENCE WITH TRANSCATHETER AORTIC VALVE REPLACEMENT (TAVR), there remain 3 major adverse events. Aortic rupture (Fig. 1), coronary artery obstruction (Fig. 2), and paravalvular leakage (PVL) (Fig. 3) may occur with valve implantation. Oversizing or excessive radial expansion force with the TAVR stent may cause aortic rupture, whereas insufficient dilation may lea...

Background Rupture of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) is the third most common cause of death in cardiovascular diseases. Despite this high significance, there is still controversy regarding the management of AAAs, as diameter is currently the only accepted parameter to assess risk of rupture. Elastin is the key protein for maintaining stability of the aortic wall. The aim of this study was t...

ANEURYSM of the abdominal aorta is a rare finding. Osler' reported 11 instances of abdominal aneurysm out of 2200 necropsies performed at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Later, at the same institution, he found 16 cases of abdominal aortic aneurysm among 18,000 necropsies. The first case, according to Osler, was reported by Vesalius in 1567. Rupture is the characteristic course of the disease. Most...