ARTERIOENTERIC FISTULAS - DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT BY ANGIOGRAPHY

Two cases of massive gastrointestinal haemorrhage caused by arterioenteric fistulae are presented. In both cases, bleeding was controlled by interventional angiography. In the first case, a fistula between an aberrant right subclavian artery and a reconstructed oesophagus was temporarily occluded with a balloon catheter as a pre-surgical measure. In the second case a communication between the external iliac artery and the colon in a patient with invasive cervical cancer was treated by embolization. An arterioenteric fistula should be considered as a possible cause of acute gastrointestinal haemorrhage in post-operative or cancer patients and aortography or pelvic arteriography may be required to make the diagnosis.