Tuberculous aortitis.

Ann Saudi Med 2006;26(1):56-58 tuberculous aortitis (ta) is a rare entity that is invariably indicative of disseminated tuberculosis. ta is associated with aneurysm formation in about half of cases. another possible complication is perforation of adjacent structures.1-7 Both abdominal and thoracic aorta are involved with equal frequency.7-9 Fatal outcomes are frequently reported even after antituberculosis chemotherapy and surgical intervention. We present a case of tuberculous aortic aneurysm (tBaa) that underwent surgical resection and graft replacement in the bed of the infected aorta. Following an apparently successful chemotherapy, the patient died suddenly. We postulate that reactivation of the un-eradicated bacilli precipitated graft failure. similar cases in the literature are reviewed. We propose lifelong suppressive therapy with antituberculosis agents to prevent such a catastrophic event.