Dissecting aneurysm of the pulmonary artery associated with brain abscess: a case report.

A case of dissecting aneurysm of the pulmonary artery is described. It was complicated by chronic pulmonary hypertension in a 42-year-old woman with a long history of atrial septal defect. The case is unusual in its clinical presentation with an acute brain abscess masking the pulmonary artery aneurysm dissection. The origin of the abscess in the absence of a known primary source of infection is difficult to explain, although brain infection is a well-known complication of congenital defects, even when infectious agents cannot be isolated.