Chronic traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the ascending aorta causing right ventricular inflow obstruction.

A 28-year-old man developed exertional dyspnea and peripheral edema 1 year after the initial blunt trauma to the chest. The diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm (PSA) of the ascending aorta was made based on the echocardiographic finding of a large echo-free space that communicated with the ascending aorta through the defect in the ascending aortic wall. The PSA caused a right ventricular inflow obstruction with increased diastolic transtricuspid blood flow velocity up to 2.7 m/s. Following the excision of the PSA and repair of the communication between it and the ascending aorta, the sizes of the right atrium and right ventricle, and the diastolic transtricuspid blood flow velocity, normalized.