title: Aortic valve aneurysm associated with infective endocarditis: case report and review of literature.
abstract: Although there are several mitral valve aneurysm reports, studies on aortic valve aneurysm are extremely rare. This paper describes an uncommon case of a large saccular aortic valve aneurysm associated with infective endocarditis. A 37-year-old man was hospitalized in our hospital with fever and dyspnea. Echocardiography found severe aortic regurgitation and aortic valve aneurysm of the non-coronary cusp going in and out of the left ventricular chamber. Blood cultures grew Streptococcus viridance. Therefore, the patient underwent aortic valve replacement. During the operation, we observed a 30 × 20 mm ruptured aneurysm that arose from the non-coronary cusp. The aortic valve containing the aneurysm was resected and replaced with a mechanical heart valve. Histopathological examination of the aortic valve aneurysm showed active inflammatory changes. Infective endocarditis was considered to be the cause of this aortic valve aneurysm.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bell Land General Hospital, 500-3 Higashiyama, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8247, Japan. h_minamimura@sechokai.or.jp.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Minamimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bell Land General Hospital, 500-3 Higashiyama, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8247, Japan.
authors.forename: Takumi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bell Land General Hospital, 500-3 Higashiyama, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8247, Japan.
authors.forename: Tadahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Murakami
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Bell Land General Hospital, 500-3 Higashiyama, Naka-ku, Sakai, Osaka, 599-8247, Japan.
authors.forename: Shinsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kotani
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001021:Aortic Valve; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D018618:Echocardiography, Doppler, Color; D004697:Endocarditis, Bacterial / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D006322:Heart Aneurysm / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D019918:Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D034363:Viridans Streptococci / Q000302:isolation & purification
keywords: Aortic valve aneurysm; Aortic valve replacement; Infective endocarditis