Improved outcomes in postoperative and pancreatitis-related visceral pseudoaneurysms

Pseudoaneurysm (PSA) of the visceral arterial tree is an uncommon but highly lethal complication of pancreatic surgery and pancreatitis. Surgical and angiographic interventions are used in treatment; however, optimal therapy remains unclear. We hypothesized that the natural history of PSA is different in these discrete clinical settings. From 1995-2005, 37 patients with PSA were treated: 13 after pancreatic surgery and 24 in the setting of pancreatitis. Postoperative patients most frequently presented with bleeding (92%), either from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract or a surgical drain. In this group, the diagnosis was most commonly made by angiography (77%), and 62% had a pancreatic fistula. In patients with pancreatitis, abdominal pain was the only presenting symptom in 62%, and GI bleeding was present in 29%. Eighty-seven percent had an associated pseudocyst or fluid collection. Interventional radiologic therapy successfully arrested hemorrhage in all 35 patients in whom it was employed. There were four false negative angiograms, and two patients required repeated interventions for rebleeding. The overall mortality was 14%. Pseudoaneurysms present differently in these two clinical settings, but transcatheter intervention is the first treatment of choice in clinically stable patients. Early recognition and prompt angiographic occlusion leads to improved outcomes.