Mycotic thoracic aortic aneurysm: review of the diagnostic and therapeutic options

Along with greater life-expectancy, the prevalence of aortic aneurysm and its infected complicated variant increases. We present the case of a mycotic aortic aneurysm. Mycotic aneurysms represent only between 0.7% and 2.6% of all aortic aneurysms. It is a highly lethal variant of the classical aortic aneurysm in which death supervenes in all cases that are left untreated. Up to 60% of mycotic aortic aneurysms may present as ruptured. Time from admission to diagnosis of mycotic thoracic aortic aneurysm ranges from 1 to 4 days and the time from diagnosis to the necessity of surgery 1 to 11 days. Adequate knowledge about the diagnostic and therapeutic options is mandatory improve survival and will be reviewed in this article.