Emphysematous Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm by Clostridium septicum with Synchronous Colon Cancer

Author Info

Veronica Fernandez Alvarez Miriam Linares-Sanchez Marta Botas-Velasco Pablo del Canto-Peruyera Lucas Alvarez-Garcia Javier Alvarez-Fernandez

Corresponding Author

Veronica Fernandez Alvarez
Vascular and Endovascular Surgery Department, Hospital Universitario Cabueñes, Gijon, Spain

A B S T R A C T

Introduction: Clostridium septicum (C. septicum) aortitis is a rare condition frequently associated with colon adenocarcinoma and carries a poor prognosis. Case Report: We report the case of an 80-year-old man who was waiting for an elective endovascular repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) with a diameter of 5.8 × 5.4 cm. He underwent a colonoscopy because of a thickening of the colon wall in the preoperatory CT. One week after that, he presented at the emergency with a 48-hour duration of fever and abdominal pain. Abdominal CT imaging revealed an increased aneurysm size to 6.1 × 6.6 cm including gas within the aorta. Treatment consisted of antibiotics, urgent axillar to femoro-femoral bypass, excision and ligation of the infrarenal aorta and right hemicolectomy with end-ileostomy. Aortic cultures were positive for C. septicum. The postoperative was complicated by renal failure and the patient died. Conclusion: C. septicum-infected aortic aneurysm is a rare entity that is strongly associated with colon cancer. The presence of gas within the aorta or emphysematous aortitis is the most common sign of C. septicum infection. Broad-spectrum antibiotics should be initiated and emergency surgical management with excision of the infected aneurysm and grafting is required.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report

Publication history

Received: Fri 11, Mar 2022
Accepted: Mon 28, Mar 2022
Published: Thu 07, Apr 2022

Copyright

© 2021 Veronica Fernandez Alvarez. 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.2022.03.03