Does Peri Stent-Graft Air After Thoracic Aortic Endografting Necessarily Imply Infection?
Luis R. Leon, Jr, MD, RVT University of Arizona Health Science Center, and Southern Arizona Veteran Affairs Health Care System, Vascular Surgery Section, Tucson, Arizona, luis.leon{at}va.gov’ + u + ‘@’ + d + ”//–> The radiographic finding of air bubbles around a surgically placed prosthetic graft is traditionally assumed to be a sign of infection until proven otherwise. Direct delivery of atmospheric air bubbles, shown in an imaging study performed very soon after a surgical intervention, or percutaneously introduced during an endovascular procedure could be possible causes of air bubble presence and not necessarily infection. However, if air around a prosthetic aortic graft is identified in an imaging study after a previous one did not document its presence, or if the amount of air is increasing on serial imaging studies, the suspicion level should increase. The case presented here is of a 49-year-old male who underwent an endovascular repair of a possible symptomatic penetrating ao
