CASE REPORTS   

Chirurgia 2014 December;27(6):345-7

Copyright © 2014 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Vegetative ascending aorta infection and rupture: a rare cause of acute cerebral embolism

Iscan S., Sahinalp S., Ozdemir F., Etli M., Gursu O.

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Van Research‑Education Hospital, Van, Turkey

A 42-year-old patient, treated with the diagnosis of multiple cerebral embolism and experienced sudden chest pain on the 3rd day of her hospitalization was operated following computed tomographic examination, detecting rupture of the ascending aorta. Vegetations was detected within the lumen of the ascending aorta. Ascending aorta was replaced. Brucella spp. grew on the tissue culture obtained from excised aortic tissue. This is a rarely encountered clinical condition in the literature where isolated vegetative foci of infection located on the ascending aorta associated with Brucella spp, results in cerebral embolism and subsequent aortic rupture without any sign of sepsis.