A Case of Shaggy Aorta Syndrome

Abstract

A 75-year-old man developed painful purplish livedo on the bilateral feet about 3 months before he first visited our hospital. The contrast-enhanced CT showed irregular atherosclerotic plaques with an irregularly speculated shape in the abdominal aortic wall.Thehistopathological examination from the left 5th toe showed small arterial cholesterol crystal embolizations in the deep dermis to the subcutaneous fat tissue.Thus, we diagnosed him as shaggy aorta syndrome.The endovascular therapy such as intra-aortic catheterization test is suggested to be the most contributory cause of cholesterol crystal embolization.While, the presence of shaggy aorta could be one of the important diagnostic findings of cholesterol crystal embolization especially in the cases with unclear cause.