Hepatic artery aneurysm associated with upper gastrointestinal bleeding after intrahepatic artery chemotherapy.

We present the course of illness of a 56 year-old patient with acute gastrointestinal bleeding after penetration of an aneurysm of the hepatic artery in the duodenal bulb. A diffuse intrahepatic metastasis of a carcinoid was treated with a loco-regional intraarterial chemotherapy via a catheter system implanted in the gastroduodenal artery. Five months after the catheter implantation melena occurred. The gastrointestinal arterial bleeding from the penetrating aneurysm presented a life-threatening situation. This cause of bleeding could not be brought under control endoscopically. Immediate surgical management became necessary.