Aortobronchial Fistula: Keys to Successful Management

Abstract

Aortobronchial fistula is a rare but highly lethal condition. If it is diagnosed,survival rates are greater than 80%; if not, the condition is uniformly fatal with death usually due to massive hemoptysis. A high index of suspicion is necessary to establish the diagnosis. The most consistent symptoms are hemoptysis(96%) and massive hemoptysis (79%). The most rewarding test is a thoracic aortogram (with a sensitivity of 71 %). Characteristics of this condition, as described in the literature, and an illustrative case are presented.

Aortobronchial fistula after correction of congenital cardiovascular abnormalities

“…Massive haemoptysis, defined as the expectoration of 600 mL of blood in 24 h, occurs in 79% and is often the terminal event [10]. Three of the four patients had massive haemoptysis.…”

“…The majority (90%) of cases involve an aneurysm of the thoracic aorta [2,10,13]. Tuberculosis and luetic aortitis used to be the principal causes of these aneurysms with fistulization [4,10].…”

An Interesting Case of Hemoptysis: Aorta-Bronchial Fistula Caused by Spinal Fixation Device

“…1 Aort koarktasyonu, PDA gibi konjenital patolojilerin tamirinden sonra, anevrizma rezeksiyonlarını ve greft interpozisyonunu takiben anastomoz hatlarından gelişen psödoanevrizmaların ve post-travmatik anevrizmaların akciğere penetrasyonu sonucu oluşabilir. Akciğer hidatik kisti, tü-berküloz ve akciğer transplantasyonu sonrasında da gelişebilir.…”

Aortobronchopulmonary fistula complicating aortic aneurysm: diagnosis in four cases

“…However, with surgery, the survival rate exceeds 80%. Unfortunately, premortem diagnosis is made in less than 50% of cases [1,2]. We describe our experience in four patients.…”

“…An aortobronchopulmonary fistula is a fistulous connection between the aorta and lung, most commonly occurring in patients with thoracic aortic aneurysms [1]. If undiagnosed, this entity is uniformly fatal.…”