False aneurysm of aorta secondary to partial occlusion clamp injury: diagnosis by nuclear flow study

A 72-year-old woman presented 12 months postaortic valve replacement with a false aneurysm near the aortic cannulation site. The diagnosis was suspected from clinical findings and confirmed by a nuclear flow study. The patient refused surgery and died shortly afterward. At autopsy, a smooth-walled 1 cm defect adjacent to the cannulation site (presumably related to injury from a partial occlusion clamp) was found; this would have been easily reparable with surgery.