Cardiovascular System Pathology Flashcards

A saccular outpouching of the ascending aorta with tree-bark intimal wrinkling suggests which etiology?

Answer: Tertiary syphilitic aortitis

Syphilitic aortitis causes obliterative endarteritis of the vasa vasorum, producing a tree-bark appearance of the ascending aorta.

Cystic medial degeneration of the aorta predisposing to dissection is classically linked to which condition?

Answer: Marfan syndrome

Marfan syndrome (fibrillin-1 defect) causes cystic medial degeneration, a major risk for aortic dissection.

An aortic dissection most commonly originates in which segment?

Answer: Ascending aorta within 10 cm of the valve

Most dissections begin in the ascending aorta within about 10 cm of the aortic valve.

Granulomatous inflammation of the temporal artery with giant cells and skip lesions defines which vasculitis?

Answer: Giant cell (temporal) arteritis

Giant cell arteritis affects large-to-medium vessels with granulomas, giant cells, and segmental skip lesions.

Necrotizing vasculitis of medium arteries with lesions of varying ages, sparing the lungs, and associated with hepatitis B is characteristic of?

Answer: Polyarteritis nodosa

Polyarteritis nodosa shows segmental transmural necrotizing inflammation of medium vessels of differing ages and links to HBV.

The most common location for an atherosclerotic aneurysm is:

Answer: Infrarenal abdominal aorta

Abdominal aortic aneurysms most commonly form in the infrarenal aorta, driven by atherosclerosis.

Which vasculitis characteristically involves the aortic arch and its branches, causing 'pulseless disease' in young women?

Answer: Takayasu arteritis

Takayasu arteritis is a granulomatous large-vessel vasculitis of the aortic arch causing weak upper-extremity pulses.