Stent graft treatment as a bridge to surgery for a secondary aortoduodenal fistula.

A secondary aortoduodenal fistula is a rare but a severe late complication after prosthetic abdominal aortic surgery. Currently, there is little consensus regarding the right treatment due to high mortality and morbidity rates. We report the case of a haemodynamically unstable patient with haematemesis on the basis of a secondary aortoduodenal fistula. He was successfully treated by staged stent graft placement followed by surgical graft excision and autogenous deep vein reconstruction. In haemodynamically unstable patients or in patients where open repair is not feasible in the acute setting of secondary aortoduodenal fistula, we advocate the use of a 2-staged endovascular and surgical approach to improve short- and long-term outcomes.