Limitations of endovascular treatment with stent-grafts for active mycotic thoracic aortic aneurysm.

An 81-year-old woman with ruptured mycotic thoracic aortic aneurysm was treated with endovascular placement of stent-grafts fabricated from expanded polytetrafluoroethylene and Z-stents. Although exclusion of the aneurysm was achieved at the end of the procedure, a type I endoleak developed on the following day. Despite emergent surgical resection of the aneurysm and extra-anatomical reconstruction, the patient died 2 days later. Stent-graft repair may not be a suitable method for the treatment of ruptured mycotic aneurysm in the presence of active infection.