Left ventricular outflow tract pseudoaneurysm: A complication of an infective endocarditis in a patient with previous surgery of the aortic root

Pseudoaneurysms are rare and severe complications of infective endocarditis, previous heart surgery, thoracic trauma, etc. They can lead to serious complications, such as their rupture, compression of cardiac structures, or fistula formation. A case is presented of a 42 year-old male who underwent aortic root replacement with valve preservation (David procedure), mitral valve annuloplasty, and patent foramen ovate closure in 2015. In August 2017 he was admitted to hospital with a fever of urinary origin that did not respond to standard treatment. Suspecting an infective endocarditis, blood cultures were collected, which were positive for Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. An echocardiogram was performed, in which was observed an image compatible with an abscess in the aortic root. The chosen course of action was conservative management and subsequent re-evaluation. Two weeks later the echocardiogram showed a left ventricular outflow tract pseudoaneurysm. A CT angiography confirmed this finding, as well as a right auricular fistula. The patient was transferred to our hospital where he underwent surgery. During the surgery, an abscess was observed that originated from the base of the non-coronary aortic sinus with rupture of the aortic valve that continued into a right auricular fistula. The aortic annulus was re-constructed with a heterologous pericardial patch and the aortic valve was replaced from its root with a mechanical prosthesis. Closure of the fistula from the right atrium was also performed. Cultures from the surgical specimens were sterile, and the post-surgery echocardiogram did not show any complications. Surgery is essential to avoid any possible pseudoaneurysm complications and should the pseudoaneurysm be associated with an infective endocarditis, surgery is necessary to eradicate the spreading of the infection. (C) 2018 Sociedad Espanola de Cirugia Toracica-Cardiovascular. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.