[Gastrointestinal hemorrhage in an aged subject with an aortic prosthesis]

An old patient with aortic prosthetic graft was admitted to the hospital with an upper gastro-intestinal bleeding. The prosthesis was seen protruding into the afferent loop of a previous gastrectomy. Despite immediate surgery to remove the aortic graft and to close the fistula, the patient died suddenly on the first postoperative day. A herald bleeding two months previously had passed without suspicion of a possible aorto-enteric fistula. The pathogenesis and clinical appearance of aorto-enteric fistulae are reviewed and the attitude in the elderly with aortic prostatic graft and upper gastro-intestinal blood loss is discussed.