Aortic Sinus of Valsalva-pulmonary Artery fistula and Management

¹ Division of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Veterans Administration Hospital, Oteen, North Carolina
² Cardiology Section, Veterans Administration Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky

Aortic sinus of Valsalva-pulmonary artery fistula of nonluetic etiology is an extremely rare lession. An aortic sinus aneurysm which ruptured into the pulmonary artery was correctly diagnosed and surgically corrected without causing injury to the aortic or pulmonary valve. Because of the grave prognosis of an untreated aortocardiac fistula, the patient with the clinical syndrome suggesting this lesion should be completely evaluated and undergo surgical correction without delay, once the diagnosis is established. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a sucessful surgical correction of this is the first report of a sucessful surgical correction of this rare cardiac lesion.