Right heart failure secondary to compression of the right pulmonary artery by a syphilitic aortic aneurysm.

A 68-year-old man presented with right heart failure due to compression of the right pulmonary artery by a syphilitic aneurysm of the ascending aorta. The diagnosis was made by cardiac catheterization and angiography and it was proven by autopsy. This complication is unusual and supports the experimental evidence that unilateral pulmonary obstruction may be responsible for the development of pulmonary hypertension.