Combined type B aortic dissection and fusiform abdominal aortic aneurysm. Case reports.

Two patients are described with a combined type B aortic dissection and a fusiform abdominal aortic aneurysm, the dissection not involving the aneurysm. In a seventy-year-old man a type B aortic dissection and a large abdominal aneurysm were found. An infrarenal aortic bifurcation graft was inserted. He died fifteen months later of cardiogenic shock. In a sixty-six-year-old man diagnosis of a primary aortoduodenal fistula was made together with a limited type B dissection. A straight aortic interposition graft was inserted. He died eleven months later of the complications of a secondary aortoduodenal fistula. Although combination of aortic dissection and abdominal aneurysm is a rare occurrence, conservative management of the aortic dissection and interposition graft for the abdominal aneurysm was successful as initial treatment in these 2 patients.