Rupture of an ascending aortic aneurysm as a cause of sudden death

Abstract

An 84-year-old female patient was brought to the emergency department in cardiac arrest. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation maneuvers were performed but were unsuccessful. The patient had a past medical history of systemic arterial hypertension with target-organ lesions, including stroke and myocardial infarction. The autopsy was carried out, and the most striking finding was cardiac tamponade due to the rupture of an ascending aortic aneurysm at the site of a complex atheromatous plaque. Rupture is the most serious complication of a thoracic aneurysm and must be considered in the differential diagnosis of sudden death.

The Dilemma in the Management of Thromboembolic Disease in the Setting of Concomitant Aortic Pseudoaneurysm

“…The degenerative vascular pathology of AAP also increases the risk of its spontaneous rupture that may lead to sudden death [ 9 ]. The use of anticoagulants or thrombolytic therapy further aggravates the risk of AAP dissection/rupture followed by hypovolemic shock, cardiac tamponade, hemopericardium, and sudden cardiac death [ 10 ]. However, exclusion of anticoagulants and thrombolytic therapies in such cases increases the risk of thromboembolic events to many folds.…”