This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reyes, G. Articles by delas Cuevas, M.-C. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Reyes, G. Articles by delas Cuevas, M.-C. Related Collections Cardiac - other Great vessels Pericardium

Type A aortic dissection associated with Dietzia maris

^a Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, Spain
^b Department of Microbiology, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, Spain
^c Department of Histiology, Hospital Universitario La Princesa, Madrid, Spain

*Corresponding author: C/Escalinata 19, 5 izq., 28013 Madrid, Spain. Tel.: +34-915202268/+34-600754428, fax: +34-913202556.

E-mail address: guillermoreyescopa{at}yahoo.es (G. Reyes).

Aortitis is a rare cause of aortic dissection. We report the unusual presentation of a 77-year-old male patient who underwent emergency surgery for an aortic dissection type A. A purulent pericardial fluid and inflammatory aorta were found after chest opening. Several samples were sent for analysis. The ascending aorta presented a mild dilatation with a large haematoma infiltrating the aortic root. The distal part of the ascending aorta seemed unaffected. The aortic rupture was found one centimetre above the non-coronary cusp. Aortic wall tissues were extremely fragile and with an inflammatory aspect. The patient died in the theatre room. In the histological study one out of three fragments of ascending aorta displayed longitudinal splitting of the outer media, with blood extravasation in the adventitial layer. In this level, the presence of a detritus material that reminded of bacterial colonies was noteworthy, together with abundant fibrinous exudates. In the laboratory a new specimen, Dietzia maris, was found in the pericardial liquid and in the aortic wall. We believe that this is the first reported finding of Dietzia maris in a patient with aortic disease.

Key Words: Aortic dissection; Infection; Histology

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. S. Cargill, G. J. Boyd, and N. C. Weightman Nocardia cyriacigeorgica: a case of endocarditis with disseminated soft-tissue infection J. Med. Microbiol., February 1, 2010; 59(2): 224 - 230. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]