Survival after spontaneous aortic rupture in a patient with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a rare inherited disorder of connective tissue characterized by hyperextensible skin, hypermobile joints, and abnormalities of the cardiovascular system. Most patients are unaware of their disease until a catastrophic event such as arterial rupture or bowel perforation occurs. Aortic disruption accounts for many of the deaths in EDS type IV cases and only two cases of survival after spontaneous aortic rupture have previously been reported. We report on a third case of a survivor of spontaneous abdominal aortic rupture in EDS type IV.