Cardiac consequence of misdiagnosed vascular complication of spinal lumbar surgery: 6 years of diagnosis delay

High-output cardiac failure secondary to a post-traumatic iliocaval fistula

We report a case of a 24-year-old man who had an exploratory laparotomy 3 years earlier for a penetrating hypogastric wound. He presented with congestive heart failure that had progressed over the past 4 months. Transthoracic echocardiography and computed tomography (CT) angiography of the aorta demonstrated a wide arteriovenous fistula between the right common iliac artery and the iliocaval confluence, resulting in the dilatation of the inferior vena cava and of the right heart chambers. The patient was treated by surgical ligation of the right common iliac artery above and below the fistula in conjunction with aortoiliac bypass, thus excluding the shunt.