Aorto-digestive fistula: a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding

Aorto-digestive fistulas are a rare but extremely dangerous cause of massive gastrointestinal bleeding with a high risk of death. The aim of the review was to examine the modern principles of aorto-digestive fistula diagnosis and optimal treatment modalities.Scientific publications and their reference lists were searched on PubMed database, Google Scholar and Russian Science Citation Index. Articles relevant to the topic, published over the past 25 years (1996-2021), were included and they were searched and categorised using the following key words: ‘gastrointestinal bleeding’, ‘aorto-digestive fistulas’, ‘diagnosis’ and ‘treatment’. Inclusion criteria were limited to gastrointestinal bleeding associated with aorto-digestive fistulas.Patients with aortic aneurysms or those who have undergone prosthetics should have increased alertness regarding the formation of aorto-digestive fistulas. With a presence of gastrointestinal bleeding and exclusion of other sources based on multispiral computed tomography data with intravenous bolus contrast enhancement, this will allow for quick verification of the diagnosis and also enable timely medical measures to be taken. In an emergency situation, to achieve rapid hemostasis in unstable patients, endovascular aortic replacement is most justified. Open reconstruction of the aorta in situ with simultaneous elimination of the hollow organ defect and sanitation of fistula-associated foci of infection should be considered as a radical intervention for aorto-digestive fistulas.Received 19 May 2021. Revised 7 July 2021. Accepted 9 July 2021.Funding: The study did not have sponsorship.Conflict of interest: Authors declare no conflict of interest.Contribution of the authors: The authors contributed equally to this article.