[Computerized tomography assessment of complications secondary to abdominal aortic prosthesis].
OBJECTIVE
CT has gained an important role in the diagnosis of the complications of prosthetic surgery of the abdominal aorta: the importance of such complications comes from their frequency, which is proportional to the increasing number of interventions, and their severity. We investigated the CT patterns of the most frequent complications.


METHODS
24 patients referred for strongly suspected postoperative complications were examined in 2 years: fever and leukocytosis (20 cases) and progressive anemia (4 cases) were the most frequent findings. The operation had been performed 7 +/- 12 weeks before (2 patients were excluded because surgery dated less than 3 weeks).


RESULTS
14 patients had infective complications: thickening (57%) and inhomogeneity (43%) of the periprosthetic wrap and ectopic gas bubble (78%) were the most frequent CT findings. We also observed 2 periprosthetic hematomas, 1 aneurysm relapse and 1 prosthetic graft rupture.


CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, CT confirmed its important role in the study of the complications of prosthetic aortic surgery, despite its known poor specificity in the demonstration of the aorta in the first 2-3 months postoperatively, in the initial stages of infection and in the diagnosis of aorto-enteric fistulas.
Giovagnorio
F
F
Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale e Patologia, Università La Sapienza, Roma. giovagnorio@axrma.uniromal.it
Andreoli
C
C
De Cicco
M L
ML
D001012:Aorta, Abdominal; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000473:pathology*