Aortoenteric Fistula - A Report of a Case -

대동맥장루 -1예 보고-

Aortoenteric fistula is an uncommon important complication of aortic reconstruction with a prosthetic graft. The complication often is difficult to diagnose and is associated with poor prognosis. Aortoenteric fistula could be divided into true aortoenteric fistula and paraprosthetic-enteric fistula. In case of true aortoenteric fistula, an actual communication between the gastrointestinal tract and the aortic lumen is present. So, massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage is the presenting manifestation. In paraprosthetic-enteric fistula, characterized by communication between the gastrointestinal tract and the external surface of synthetic vascular prosthesis without actual fistularization into the vascular lumen, the predominant clinical manifestation were sepsis, fever and anemia. We experienced one case of paraprosthetic-enteric fistula in a 16 years old male after abdominal aortic reconstruction with a prosthetic graft. The interval from the operation to onset of symptoms was 40 months. The initial clinical manifestation was sepsis, fever and anemia without massive gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Surgical treatment consists of complete excision of infected graft, two layers closure of jejunal wall defect and pledgets suture of aortic stump with surrounding health tissue. Anatomic revascularization was not able to be done: because of extensive retroperitoneal inflammation and extraanatomic revascularization did not performed due to adequate distal blood supply through rich collateral circulation. After operation, he complained numbness on left foot on moderate exertion and felt coldness on left leg compared with right leg but not showed skin color change. 43 days after operation, he discharged without gait disturbance except numbness on left foot on moderate exertion.