Tuberculous Aortitis with Aorto-bronchial Fistula / 대한흉부외과학회지

ABSTRACT

Tuberculous aortitis is a very rare disease. Furthermore, it is all the more rare for it to be complicated by the development of an aortic aneurysm or the formation of aorto-bronchial fistula. If it is complicated by rupture of the aorta, mortality is very high. If the patient didn't contract tuberculosis, but was expectorating blood, we would have to carry out a chest CT promptly, in order to make a rapid and accurate diagnosis of this disease. A 46-year-old male patient was admitted due to the sudden onset of intermittent hemoptysis and chest discomfort. CT scans of the chest showed an aneurysmal change to the descending thoracic aorta, and the formation of an aorto-bronchial fistula, which originated from this aneurysm and communicated with its left lower lobe. We operated with an artificial vessel graft interposition of the descending thoracic aorta and a left lower lobectomy. Because the diagnosis was of tuberculosis, we started anti-Tbc medication and long term anti-Tbc medication was recommended.