Endoluminal stent-graft for type B aortic dissection is a new alternative to reduce surgical trauma. However, medium- and long-term complications are still little known and poorly reported, such as the aortic-esophageal fistula. The objective of this study is to describe three cases of aortic-esophageal fistula after the endovascular treatment of 23 cases of descending aortic dissection conducted by the vascular surgery team of Santa Casa de São Paulo in a retrospective study. These patients presented some common characteristics: chronic dissection, successful early outcome, need of reinterventions, occlusion of arterial trunks such as subclavian artery, mesenteric artery, celiac trunk, and finally, a fast fatal course after the first fistula-related symptoms. Therefore, despite rarely described in the literature, aortic-esophageal fistula is a complication of the endovascular treatment of descending aortic dissection which demands attention due to its unpredictability, recurrence, and fatal outcome.
Dissection; aorta; fistula; esophagus; postoperative complications
