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Case reports

Cardiac ochronosis: not so benign

Department of Cardiac Surgery, CHU Brugmann, 4, Place A. van Gehuchten, B-1020 Brussels, Belgium

Received 11 November 2008; received in revised form 12 December 2008; accepted 15 December 2008.

^_* Corresponding author. Tel.: +32 2 477 39 95; fax: +32 2 477 21 61. (Email: pierre.wauthy{at}chu-brugmann.be).

A 78-year-old patient with ochronosis has developed symptomatic aortic stenosis. He has undergone an aortic valve replacement that was highly complicated by a severe aortic calcification. The right coronary artery was sacrificed and bypassed in order to control a massive aortic root haemorrhage. The patient has presented a sternal dehiscence that required surgical revision. The sternal frailty was related to chronic corticotherapy in a patient with chronic spondylarthrosis. Cardiac ochronosis in the elderly may be associated to surgical complications related to severe aortic root calcifications and chronic corticotherapy for arthropathies.

Key Words: Aortic valve • Calcification • Metabolism