Giant Ascending Aortic Aneurysm: Prenatal Echocardiographic Diagnosis: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Congenital aneurysms of ascending aorta are unusual. We present a case report of a 32-year-old pregnant woman, 33 weeks of gestation, referred to perform a fetal echocardiogram with cardiomegaly and fetal right atrium enlargement, observed in a routine obstetric ultrasound. Fetal echocardiogram revealed a giant ascending aortic aneurysm. A female neonate spontaneous delivered at 36 weeks of gestation required mechanical respiratory assistance for respiratory distress and paradoxical respiratory movements. Partial sternal cleft and anomalous umbilical cord implantation at supraumbilical abdominal midline was founded. The diagnosis of ascending aortic aneurysm was confirmed by postnatal transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and cardiovascular multislice computed tomography (MSCT). The use of echocardiogram and Doppler color flow mapping as well as the multislice computed tomography to establish a detailed morphologic analysis are discussed.