Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Tuberculous mycotic aneurysm of aortic arch: a case report emphasising on multidisciplinary management approach
  1. Dhivya Velu1,
  2. Farrah Ibrahim1 and
  3. Ali Hassoun2
  1. 1 Department of Internal Medicine, UAB Huntvsille Regional Medical Campus, Huntsville, Alabama, USA
  2. 2 Department of Infectious disease, Alabama Infectious Disease Center/Huntsville Hospital Health System, Huntsville, Alabama, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Dhivya Velu; drdhivyavelu{at}gmail.com

Abstract

Although tuberculosis (TB) is a well-known infection worldwide, the disease involvement in blood vessels, mainly aorta, is quite rare. The objective of this case report is to address the importance of a multidisciplinary approach aiming at successful treatment of tuberculosis, especially when presenting with mycotic aneurysm. We report a case of a 45-year-old woman with the history of sputum positive pulmonary TB, presenting with seizures and eventually found to have developed disseminated infection involving multiple organs, including the aorta. The patient was started on WHO-recommended anti-tubercular treatment but ended up requiring surgical intervention for the aneurysm. Although the main modality of treatment is the use of proper and adequate medical therapy, vascular dissemination in the form of mycotic aneurysm is difficult to be dealt singlehandedly due to their irreversible and multifactorial nature, with infection being the leading cause and their tendency to progress despite the primary infection being treated.

  • tuberculosis
  • TB and other respiratory infections
  • global health

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Contributors DV involved in the primary planning, writing, editing and submission of this case report with the guidance and help with editing from FI. AH involved in verifying patient’s clinical information, gathering prior reported data and editing.

  • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Patient consent for publication Obtained.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.