Annuloaortic ectasia is a dilatation of the proximal ascending aorta and aortic annulus. It may cause aortic regurgitation, thoracic aortic dissection

Aortic dissection

Aortic dissection occurs when a tear in the inner wall of the aorta causes blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart. The dissection typically extends anterograde, but can extend retrograde from the site of the intimal tear. Aortic dissection is a medical...

, aneurysm

Aneurysm

An aneurysm or aneurism is a localized, blood-filled balloon-like bulge in the wall of a blood vessel. Aneurysms can commonly occur in arteries at the base of the brain and an aortic aneurysm occurs in the main artery carrying blood from the left ventricle of the heart...

 and rupture. It is often associated with Marfan syndrome

Marfan syndrome

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disorder of the connective tissue. People with Marfan's tend to be unusually tall, with long limbs and long, thin fingers....

. It can also be a complication due to tertiary syphilis. In tertiary syphilis the aortic root becomes so dilated that the aortic valve becomes incompetent and cor bovinum

Cor bovinum

Cor bovinum refers to a massive hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart due to volume overload, usually in earlier times in the context of tertiary syphilis but currently more often due to chronic aortic regurgitation, hypertensive and ischaemic heart disease.-Pathophysiology:Due to...

results.