CT Findings of an Aortoesophageal Fistula due to Lye Ingestion: A Case Report

but life-threatening cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding (1, 2). The most common causes of an AEF include a thoracic aortic aneurysm, foreign body ingestion, or esophageal malignancy. A small fraction of aortoesophageal fistula cases were caused by surgical complications, esophageal reflux, tuberculosis, traumatic false aneurysms, corrosive esophagitis, congenital anomalies, atherosclerotic disease, and instrumentation (1-4). We report a case of an AEF induced by lye ingestion. A 75-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital due to hematemesis; two months before, she ingested two spoons of lye and was treated in our intensive care unit. She was diagnosed with an AEF by CT because the upper endoscopic approach was impossible due to severe esophageal stricture and pharyngeal edema. The patient had no other possible causes of AEF, which could have been caused by a thoracic aortic aneurysm or a esophageal malignancy. Two days later, a surgical procedure (aortic repair, total esophagectomy and total gastrectomy) was performed.