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(Circulation. 1997;96:3778.)
© 1997 American Heart Association, Inc.

Articles

False Aortic Aneurysm due to Rupture of an Aortocoronary Saphenous Vein Bypass Graft

Philippe Gabriel Steg, MD; Marc Benacerraf, MD; Didier Chatel, MD; ; Jean-Pierre Laissy, MD

From the Cardiology (P.G.S., M.B.), Cardiac Surgery (D.C.), and Radiology (J.-P.L.) Departments, Hôpital Bichat, Paris, France.

Correspondence to Prof P.G. Steg, MD, Cardiology, Hôpital Bichat, 46 rue H. Huchard, 75018, Paris, France.

	Introduction

 
A 40-year-old man was admitted for atypical chest pain. Eight years earlier, he had undergone coronary artery bypass graft surgery, with two saphenous vein grafts placed on the left anterior descending coronary artery and on the obtuse marginal artery. The ECG was unremarkable, but chest radiographs showed a left anterior paracardiac mass.

Contrast-enhanced CT at the level of the anastomotic sites between the ascending aorta and the grafts (Fig 1) shows a large para-aortic mass that filled with dye (in white). The leakage site on the ascending aorta is clearly visible. There appear to be several layers of low-density thrombus filling the mass (black arrowheads).

View larger version (120K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1.

A coronal spin-echo ECG-gated MRI (Fig 2) shows the mass filled with several layers of distinct signals (black arrowheads), which probably represent progressive aneurysm thrombosis. The absence of signal at the central part of the false aneurysm represents blood flowing in from the ascending aorta (A). Signal void is also present at the site of anastomotic leakage.

View larger version (137K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 2.

Successive frames of a right anterior oblique view aortogram (Fig 3) show a patent saphenous vein graft to the left anterior descending artery but also contrast leakage in the form of a small anterior jet (white arrow) at the anastomotic site of the left marginal graft.

View larger version (106K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 3.

The patient underwent repeat coronary artery surgery. There was rupture of the proximal anastomosis of the saphenous vein graft and development of a large para-aortic false aneurysm. The aneurysm was resected, and a . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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