Surgical repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection: a 10-patient series.

Background: Major surgery in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection increases the risk of complications such as cardiovascular morbidity and opportunistic infections.

Methods: This study reports our experience with open surgical repair of 10 descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms in patients with HIV.

Results: Seven were men, and their median age was 49 years. All patients were controlled with highly active antiretroviral therapy (mean CD4+: 613/mm(3)). Three patients died (1 preoperatively, 1 after rupture, and 1 after elective surgery). No patient had spinal cord ischemia or infectious complications, either early or after a median follow-up of 29 months. Bacteriologic and histologic analyses did not determine any specific etiology for the aneurysms.

Conclusions: Surgical repair of descending thoracic and thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms in patients with HIV infection is feasible and may not lead to remote infectious complications.