ABSTRACT
Because immediate cardiac surgery would risk hemorrhagic transformation of this patient’s acute ischemic cerebrovascular accident (CVA), he was observed for a month before he underwent successful graft replacement of the aortic arch and great vessels. Examination of the pathological specimen revealed atherosclerotic changes and mild lymphocytic infiltration of the aortic wall, consistent with (but not specific for) treated syphilitic aortitis. Fortunately, his neurological deficits resolved almost completely with rehabilitation. The patient was last seen in April 2000, and at that time was ambulatory and without weakness or limb-shaking episodes.
