Gastrosplenic Fistula and Coeliac Artery Occlusion

Author Info

Tze Yang Chin Wen Jye Wong

Corresponding Author

Wen Jye Wong
Department of General Surgery, Bundaberg Hospital, Queensland, Australia

A B S T R A C T

Gastrosplenic fistula (GSF) is a very rare complication of several disease processes and can lead to catastrophic bleeding, necessitating emergent treatment. Splenic or gastric lymphomas are the predominant causes, with trauma and gastric surgery also implicated in several case reports. We present a case of a gastrosplenic fistula resulting from occlusion of the coeliac artery. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of a GSF resulting from severe intra-abdominal arterial disease. A 60-year-old male initially presented to the emergency department with epigastric pain. He had an extensive medical history, including dialysis-dependent end-stage renal failure, atrial fibrillation, coronary artery disease, and multiple previous abdominal surgeries. Investigation with CT angiography revealed calcified occlusion of the coeliac artery as well as extensive calcification throughout his aorta and arterial tree. A diagnosis of mesenteric angina was made, but due to his poor functional status, he was not suitable for surgical or transcatheter interventions. He was treated symptomatically, but a month later developed sudden worsening of his epigastric pain, followed by large volume haematemesis. CT angiography showed a GSF with extensive gastric necrosis. Due to his poor functional status and rapid deterioration, he opted for palliation and passed away two days later. It has been postulated that GSF develops from the invasion of malignant tissue from the stomach to the spleen or vice versa, and subsequent necrosis of this tissue results in fistula formation. This case demonstrates that the invasion of an adjacent organ may not be necessary; necrosis itself can cause erosion that ultimately results in fistula formation.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report

Publication history

Received: Mon 17, Feb 2020
Accepted: Thu 05, Mar 2020
Published: Tue 10, Mar 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Wen Jye Wong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.SCR.2020.02.14