Description
This very old specimen of unknown provenance shows plaques in the wall of the aorta and fine
linear wrinkling (‘tree-bark’ appearance). In the lower part of the posterior wall of the left ventricle
there is a pale area, irregular in outline, some 3cm long. Microscopy of the aorta shows changes
characteristic of syphilitic aortitis; the lesion in the myocardium is gummatous in nature.