Grannemann Julia Johanna, Röper Achim, Rehberg Sebastian, Jansen Gerrit
Klinik für Anästhesiologie, operative Intensivmedizin, Notfallmedizin und Schmerztherapie, Universitätsklinikum OWL, Universität Bielefeld, Campus Klinikum Bielefeld, Teutoburger Straße 50, 33604, Bielefeld, Deutschland.
Klinik für Anästhesiologie, Intensiv‑, Notfall‑, Transfusionsmedizin und Schmerztherapie Evangelisches Klinikum Bethel, Universitätsklinikum OWL, Universität Bielefeld, Campus Bielefeld-Bethel, Burgsteig 13, 33617, Bielefeld, Deutschland.
Anaesthesist. 2021 Oct;70(10):866-871. doi: 10.1007/s00101-021-00963-2. Epub 2021 Apr 30.
Approximately 1% of all patients are admitted to an emergency room for upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Differential diagnostics reveal an aortoesophageal fistula (AEF) as the cause of the bleeding in very few cases. Despite increasing means of diagnostics and treatment, mortality is high in patients with AEF even under maximum medical care. These are often fulminant situations with fatal outcome for the patient. We report a case that supports this observation described from previous cases and give a closer look at this rare emergency situation. A 54-year-old patient was taken to a maximum care hospital with the clinical diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal bleeding after receiving emergency medical treatment. The source of bleeding was quickly identified as an AEF following lobectomy for bronchial cancer. Despite maximum interventional intensive treatment, the patient died a few hours after hospital admission in hemorrhagic shock due to fulminant hemorrhage from the fistula.
