Arterial fibrodysplasia: rapid progression complicated by rupture of a visceral aneurysm into the gastrointestinal tract.

We report the case of a 44-year-old woman who had extensive stenosis and dilatation of the aortoiliac arteries and an aneurysm of the superior mesenteric artery as a result of fibrodysplasia. Both the aortoiliac and the superior mesenteric arteries were treated by resection and reconstruction. Within one year after this operation, fibrodysplastic aneurysms developed in previously angiographically normal visceral arteries. The patient came to us with massive lower gastrointestinal bleeding caused by rupture of a visceral fibrodysplastic aneurysm of the middle colic artery into the transverse colon. The classification, the origin, the localization, and the natural history of fibrodysplasia are discussed.