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Case Reports
. 2020 Nov 17;20(1):854.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05582-7.

Infected aortic aneurysm caused by Helicobacter cinaedi: case series and systematic review of the literature

Takahiro Matsuo  1 , Nobuyoshi Mori  2 , Atsushi Mizuno  3   4   5 , Aki Sakurai  6 , Fujimi Kawai  7 , Jay Starkey  8 , Daisuke Ohkushi  9 , Kohei Abe  10 , Manabu Yamasaki  10 , Joji Ito  11 , Kunihiko Yoshino  10 , Yumiko Mikami  12 , Yuki Uehara  2   12 , Keiichi Furukawa  2   13
Affiliations
Case Reports

Infected aortic aneurysm caused by Helicobacter cinaedi: case series and systematic review of the literature

Takahiro Matsuo et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Helicobacter cinaedi is rarely identified as a cause of infected aneurysms; however, the number of reported cases has been increasing over several decades, especially in Japan. We report three cases of aortic aneurysm infected by H. cinaedi that were successfully treated using meropenem plus surgical stent graft replacement or intravascular stenting. Furthermore, we performed a systematic review of the literature regarding aortic aneurysm infected by H. cinaedi.

Case presentation: We present three rare cases of infected aneurysm caused by H. cinaedi in adults. Blood and tissue cultures and 16S rRNA gene sequencing were used for diagnosis. Two patients underwent urgent surgical stent graft replacement, and the other patient underwent intravascular stenting. All three cases were treated successfully with intravenous meropenem for 4 to 6 weeks.

Conclusions: These cases suggest that although aneurysms infected by H. cinaedi are rare, clinicians should be aware of H. cinaedi as a potential causative pathogen, even in immunocompetent patients. Prolonged incubation periods for blood cultures are necessary for the accurate detection of H. cinaedi.

Keywords: Case report; Helicobacter cinaedi; Infected aneurysm; Japan.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Sagittal contrast-enhanced CT chest-abdomen-pelvis image demonstrates aorta wall thickening with pseudoaneurysm of the distal aortic arch and suggestion of Stanford type B dissection involving the descending aorta, with abnormal fluid extending to the level of the diaphragm
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Photomicrograph of Gram stain demonstrates gram-negative spiral rods, which grew on hospital day 5 from blood cultures taken at admission
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Coronal contrast-enhanced CT abdomen image demonstrates irregular wall thickening of the descending aorta having a wild, multilobulated appearance with surrounding soft tissue stranding
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Flow chart depicts the systematic review process of this study
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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