Aortic dissection: rupture into right ventricle and right pulmonary artery

Abstract

Rupture of an acute ascending aortic dissection into a surrounding cardiac chamber or pulmonary artery is an uncommon occurrence, and is often only diagnoses post mortem. Although fistulization (aortopulmonary and aorta-right atrial) after acute aortic dissection has been well documented in the literature, acute aortic dissection fistulizing into both the right ventricle and pulmonary artery has not. We report on a 75-year-old woman who presented with an acute ascending aortic dissection with both aortopulmonary and aorta-right ventricular fistulas who underwent repair and had long-term survival.