title: Secondary aorto-enteric fistulae: towards a more conservative approach.
abstract: Eight cases of secondary aorto-enteric fistulae are presented occurring 9 months to 10 years after aortic Dacron grafting. In four patients there was a simple fistula between the anastomosis and the adherent duodenum, three patients had clinically infected grafts and one had a false aneurysm that had ruptured into the bowel. The four patients with a simple fistula had direct suture repair of the defect. One developed a recurrent fistula at 2 months and was successfully repaired again by direct suture. All four patients remain well at a follow-up of 1-5 years. The other four patients had the grafts excised, with local regrafting in two cases, both patients remaining well at follow-up. One patient had an axillo-bifemoral graft, but died at 30 days of overwhelming sepsis. The final patient, a girl with diffuse aneurysmal disease, had the aortic stump oversewn but no reconstruction. She died at 9 months of aortic stump disruption. These results suggest that a more conservative approach to the operative correction of secondary fistulae should be used wherever possible.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000601:surgery*; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D004378:Duodenal Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005402:Fistula / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007412:Intestinal Fistula / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D008875:Middle Aged