title: Doehle-Heller aortitis: speed of decision is what saves life.
abstract: A 48-year-old woman presented with severe acute heart failure of 7 days duration. Because of her rapidly worsening clinical condition, anatomical diagnosis of aortopulmonary fistula was made by urgent cardiac catheterization, and she successfully underwent immediate surgical closure. Retrospectively, the diagnosis of syphilitic aortitis complicated with aortopulmonary fistula was made by clinical profile, serology, and histopathology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India.
authors.forename: Dharma R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Ayapati
authors.forename: Amar N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Patnaik
authors.forename: Ramachandra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Barik
authors.forename: N Rama
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.forename: Amarpal S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Gulati
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D013589:Syphilis, Cardiovascular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D013997:Time Factors