Primary Aorto-Enteric Fistula With a Subsequent Secondary Aorto-Enteric Fistula

Objective: Primary aorto-enteral fi stula (PAEF) is a connection between the gastrointestinal tract and the aorta that occurs without previous aortic surgery. The aetiological factors include, but are not limited to, aneurysm, infection, and tumours. It is a life threatening condition if untreated and requires emergency vascular surgical repair. A secondary aorto-enteric fi stula (AEF) can occur to a previously reconstructed aorta. This case report presents a unique case of a male patient who developed a primary AEF and subsequent secondary AEF with successful surgical outcomes, suggested to be due to tuberculous aortitis. Report: The patient was diagnosed and treated for tuberculosis and developed a saccular aneurysm within six months. The PAEF was surgically corrected with a tube graft using a bovine pericardial patch, the defect in duodenum was sutured, and a retrocolic omental fl ap was created between the duodenum and aorta. He developed a small stable pseudoaneurysm during follow up, and then a secondary AEF two and a half years later, in which a connection between the pseudoaneurysm and duodenum was corrected using a new bovine aortoaortic interposition graft using a bovine pericardium patch. The defect in the duodenum was also sutured in two layers and a new omental fl ap was created. Discussion: The mortality rate of AEF is high and it is very unlikely that a patient will survive two AEFs without major complications. It is believed that there are extremely few double AEF cases described in the literature. The aetiological factor in the development of PAEF in this case was most likely the patient ' s aortic aneurysm, which was most likely of mycotic origin due to tuberculosis. The patient developed a pseudoaneurysm during follow up and it is uncertain whether the pulsatile pressure of the pseudoaneurysm led to the recurrence of the AEF. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of European Society for Vascular Surgery. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Article history: Received 25 October 2023, Revised 16 February 2024, Accepted 8 May 2024,