Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2021 Sep 23:2021:9088024.
doi: 10.1155/2021/9088024. eCollection 2021.

An Unusual Case of an Acquired Aortopulmonary Fistula after Surgical Replacement of a Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Y Khalid  1 , N Dasu  2 , M Daneshvar  3 , P Jang  3 , A Patel  4 , K Dasu  5 , A Shah  6
Affiliations
Case Reports

An Unusual Case of an Acquired Aortopulmonary Fistula after Surgical Replacement of a Bicuspid Aortic Valve

Y Khalid et al. Case Rep Cardiol. .

Abstract

Aortopulmonary fistulas are extremely rare and often occur as a result of long-standing aortic aneurysms. They are most frequently due to the erosion of a false aneurysm of the ascending or descending thoracic aorta into the pulmonary artery. Patients generally present with symptoms of acute decompensated heart failure due to a sudden formation of a left-to-right shunt. Here, we present the case of a 63-year-old male who acquired an aortopulmonary fistula four months after undergoing successful bioprosthetic aortic valve replacement.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a, b) Transesophageal echocardiogram showing aortic valve endocarditis (AV) and associated aortic root thickness and abscess. View in (a): color Doppler, apical long axis. View in (b): short-axis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Soft-tissue axial view of CT chest demonstrating dilated aortic root.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Transesophageal echocardiogram showing aortic sinus of Valsalva aneurysm extending posteriorly to interatrial septum (white arrow) and ventricular septal defect (yellow arrow). View: color Doppler, apical four chamber.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Transesophageal echocardiogram showing aortopulmonary fistula. View: color Doppler, long axis view—upper esophageal. AO: ascending aorta; PA: pulmonary artery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. AATS Surgical Treatment of Infective Endocarditis Consensus Guidelines Writing Committee Chairs, Pettersson G. B., Coselli J. S., et al. 2016 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) consensus guidelines: surgical treatment of infective endocarditis: executive summary. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery . 2017;153(6):1241–1258.e29. doi: 10.1016/j.jtcvs.2016.09.093. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Premchand R. K., Rao B. B., Partani K. A rare case of acquired aortopulmonary fistula with bicuspid aortic valve: report of successful surgical repair. Case Reports . 2014;2014(nov181, article bcr2014207374) doi: 10.1136/bcr-2014-207374. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Izzo D., Savino K., Castellani C., et al. Post-traumatic aortopulmonary fistula after Bentall procedure. Journal of Cardiovascular Echography . 2020;30(1):29–32. doi: 10.4103/jcecho.jcecho_5_20. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Damien K., Noa H., David T., Hijazi Ziyad M. Aortopulmonary fistula after transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement. Circulation. Cardiovascular Interventions . 2013;6(6, article e67) doi: 10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.113.000654. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Klassen S., Mihos C. G., Birmingham M. J., Gadoua K., Yucel E. Infective endocarditis of the aortic valve complicated by aorta-to-pulmonary artery fistula. CASE . 2019;3(3):110–114. doi: 10.1016/j.case.2019.01.004. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources