Osler's Disease With a Dissecting Aneurysm of the Aorta

Abstract

HEREDITARY hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Osler's disease) is a well recognized disease entity. It is manifested by (1) a hereditary tendency toward the disease, (2) the presence of typically distributed telangiectasia, and (3) the tendency of telangiectatic areas to bleed.^1-2 Various associations with the disease have been described, ie, the occurrence of pulmonary arteriovenous shunts,³ aneurysms of the splenic 4 and hepatic arteries,² and hemangiomas of the liver.⁵ Muggia reported a patient with this disease and an aortic arch aneurysm.⁶ It has been emphasized by Bean ² and Muggia ⁶ that greater awareness of the association of this disease with aneurysms of large vessels might prove rewarding with respect to prognosis and therapeutic considerations in these patients. The following report deals with the presence of a dissection of the aorta in a patient with the disease. Such an occurrence has not been previously reported Report of a Case A 60-year-old white man