1. An autopsy case of aortic dissection due to giant cell arteritis
- Author
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Shingo Sakashita, Masayuki Noguchi, Chiho Tokunaga, Mai Sakashita, Noriko Uesugi, Noriaki Sakamoto, and Yuji Hiramatsu
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Pathology ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Autopsy ,Endovascular aneurysm repair ,Pathology and Forensic Medicine ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Aneurysm ,immune system diseases ,medicine.artery ,medicine ,cardiovascular diseases ,Arteritis ,skin and connective tissue diseases ,Aortic dissection ,Aorta ,business.industry ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Abdominal aortic aneurysm ,Surgery ,Giant cell arteritis ,030104 developmental biology ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,cardiovascular system ,business - Abstract
Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is a systemic vasculitis affecting mainly large and medium-sized arteries. GCA sometimes involves the aorta and its major branches and causes aortic dissection as a rare complication. We have experienced an autopsy case of aortic dissection due to GCA. The patient was an 87-year-old Japanese woman with Stanford type A aortic dissection who died 7 days after admission. Two years previously she had been diagnosed as having abdominal aortic aneurysm and undergone endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR). Although she had no characteristic symptoms of GCA, autopsy revealed marked granulomatous inflammation in the dissected area and coronary arteries. Active arteritis was evident not only in the arteries of the upper extremity but also those in the lower extremity. Granulomatous inflammation was not evident in the aneurysm. The aortic dissection might have been an initial manifestation of GCA. We report the regions of GCA extension and its histology in detail.
- Published
- 2021