Contemporary Results of Surgical Management of Peripheral Mycotic Aneurysms

Mycotic aneurysms of the extremities occur infrequently but can cause severe life and limb complications. Traditional treatment typically includes debridement and revascularization, though in select patients ligation may be well tolerated. We reviewed our experience with these aneurysms treated with these 2 modalities.

A retrospective review of patients treated for peripheral mycotic aneurysms at one institution from January 2005 to December 2015 was performed under an institutional review board-approved protocol. Demographics, perioperative details, and long-term outcomes were collected, and standard statistical methods were used to compare treatments.

We identified 28 patients with 29 peripheral mycotic aneurysms. Most patients (19: 67.9%) were male with an average age of 60.1 ± 17 years. Among cases with a known cause, direct injury to artery was the most common precursor to mycotic aneurysm formation; iatrogenic causes were the most common (15: 51.7%) followed by intravenous drug use (5: 17.2%). Distal bacterial translocation was the other cause of mycotic aneurysm formation due to osteomyelitis (2:10.5%) and bacterial endocarditis (1:3.5%). The causes of the remainder of cases (6:20.7%) were unknown. Symptoms included fever (46.4%), drainage (42.9%), rupture (35.7%), erythema (21.4%), and limb ischemia (17.9%). Staphylococcus aureus was the most common bacteria isolated (38.5%, from 7 positive blood cultures and 3 positive wound cultures) with 30% of these being methicillin-resistant Staphylococcusaureus), followed by Streptococcus species (11.5%), and other Staphylococcus (7.7%). Eight (30.7%) patients had negative cultures. The most common location of arterial aneurysm was the common femoral artery (17:58.6%), with 17.2% (5) occurring in the popliteal artery, 13.8% (4) in the brachial artery, 10.3% (3) in the radial or ulnar artery, and 3.5% (1) in the external iliac artery. Eighteen patients underwent revascularization, whereas 11 had resection/ligation without revascularization (4 femoral, 2 popliteal, 3 radial/ulnar, 1 brachial, and 1 external iliac). There was no significant difference in limb-threatening ischemia between these 2 groups (P = 0.14). Of those who were not revascularized, 1 developed significant initial ischemia but died before amputation, and the other underwent revascularization within 1 year after tolerating the initial ligation. Upper extremity aneurysms were more likely to be reintervention-free than those in the lower extremities (P = 0.01).

In this series, resection or ligation of peripheral mycotic aneurysms without revascularization was well tolerated. With close follow-up of these patients, resection or ligation may obviate the more extensive initial revascularization procedures in these infected fields.