A case of gastroduodenal artery aneurysm in a HIV-positive patient treated by combined percutaneous thrombin injection and endovascular coil embolization.

First described in 1989, HIV-related aneurysms have been rarely reported. Considered atypical if compared to classic atherosclerotic diseases, they show no preferred location and frequently involve young patients with no other risk factors for atherosclerosis but with an impaired immune system. They are probably related to an auto-immune damage inside the aortic wall associated with a necrotizing perivasculitis. Visceral artery aneurysms are rare and life-threatening diseases; the superior mesenteric and gastro-duodenal and pancreatic vessels are rarely involved. The advantages related to the endovascular approach to these aneurysms seems to be even more effective in immuno-impaired patients (i.e. HIV+). We report a case of a young patient affected by a HIV-related gastroduodenal artery aneurysm which was treated with a combined percutaneous and endovascular approach.