SALMONELLA TYPHIMURIUM INFECTED ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSM ENDOVASCULAR REPAIR WITH SECONDARY AORTOENTERIC FISTULA FORMATION.

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a widely accepted and used technique for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). However, it comes with a unique set of complications, two of the rarer being infection and aorto-enteric fistula formation. Due to the infrequency of the situation, there are currently no guidelines for their management. A 75-year-old male presented with vague abdominal pain and fevers. He was diagnosed with an infected abdominal aortic EVAR stent graft on computer tomography imaging. The stent graft was explanted and an extraanatomical bypass graft inserted. Intra-operative findings were an aorto-enteric fistula and left psoas abscess, both containing copious purulent fluid. He recovered slowly and his intra-operative samples grew Salmonella typhimurium. On review, he was found to have cultured this organism several times over a period of 14 months. It is hypothesised that his EVAR stent graft infection originated from a disseminated salmonella infection. From this case report, the following recommendations have been made. Firstly, if a patient with an EVAR develops a bacteraemia, they should receive pathogenspecific antibiotics for an appropriate length of time with regular surveillance of blood cultures until a negative culture is produced. Secondly, patients may require closer monitoring of their stent graft after a bacteraemia to allow for earlier detection of infection of the graft. Finally, explantation of infected stent grafts and the creation of an extra-anatomical bypass or an in-situ replacement may be the only method for detection of small AEFs; whose presence may change the management options for the patient. Hence, surgical management of infected EVARs and AEFs is still the current recommendation.