Treatment of secondary aorto-enteric fistula: In situ graft replacement

Secondary aorto-enteric fistula is one of the most serious complications of abdominal aortic reconstruction. Conventional management includes removal of all infected prosthetic graft, oversewing of aortic stump and restoration of lower limbs blood flow by extraanatomic bypass grafting, reporting high rates of mortality, limb loss, and even infection of the extraanatomic grafts. Dissatisfied by these results, frequently, due to aortic stump blowout or extraanatomic by-pass reinfection, some authors attempted a more conservative approach with au in situ replacement by a new synthetic graft. The aim of this paper was to verify the role of in situ graft replacement. From December 1989, 8 patients with secondary aorto-enteric fistula underwent in situ PTFE graft replacement. One patient (12.5 %) died perioperatively for acute myocardial infarction. No limb loss occured. One patient died after 44 months from pulmonary neoplasia without signs of graft infection. The others are doing well at 34 months follow-up. The authors suggest that, in selected patients, in situ prosthetic graft replacement provides better early and late results than extraanatomic bypass.