12318              EROSION OF VERTEBRAL BODY BY SYPHILITIC ANEURYSM

The patient was a man aged 54 who had an aortic aneurysm diagnosed 13 years previously. He died of cardiac and respiratory failure. At postmortem 3 large aortic aneurysms were found. The upper aneurysm was adherent to the sternum and an aneurysm in the descending aorta measuring 18 x 8 cms had eroded the bodies of two adjacent vertebrae.

The specimen consists of portions of 3 vertebral bodies. The lateral aspect of two of the bodies has been irregularly eroded by the pressure of the adherent aneurysm over an area measuring 5.5 cms in length. Note that the inter-vertebral discs are relatively more resistant and project as ridges in the floor of the erosion.