• Y Benhamou, D Plissonnier, N Cailleux, J-L Pons, C Richard, J Watelet, I Marie, and H Lévesque.
• Département de Médecine Interne, CHU de Rouen-Bois-Guillaume, 76031 Rouen Cedex, France. ygalben@wanadoo.fr
• Rev Med Interne. 2006 Sep 1; 27 (9): 690693690-3.

IntroductionThe infectious or inflammatory nature of an aortitis is difficult to assert because the microbiological results are often negative. The development of an aneurysm under treatment is rare, but requires a change in the therapeutic strategy and the etiologic diagnosis needs to be discussed again.ExegesisWe report the case of a 69-year-old woman treated by corticotherapy for an aortitis thought to be inflammatory, who required emergency surgery when a dissected aneurysm appeared. The peroperative samples were positive to Streptococcus pneumoniae using polymerase chain reaction and allowed a change of the diagnosis. The patient evolved favorably under antibiotic therapy.ConclusionThe decision to treat an aortitis by corticotherapy must be made with caution even if the microbiological tests are negative.

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