Infected Aneurysm: Current Management

Abstract

Despite of progression of medical and surgical treat- ment for patients with vascular disease, infected an- eurysm still remains as a challenging vascular disease to treat in current practice. In 1885, Osler coined “mycotic aneurysm" to provide the first description of infected aneurysm caused by bac- terial endocarditis.1) At that time, the term “mycotic” was applied to any infection by bacterial or fungal infection. Infected aneurysm is a more comprehensive term, which encompasses primary infection of native artery resulting in aneurysm and infection of preexisting aneu- rysm. Although infected aneurysms are rare in its fre- quency, they nevertheless represent a life-threatening dis- ease with high incidence of arterial rupture and recur- rence even after treatment.