Nocardia asteroides-infected aneurysm of the aorta: case report and review of the literature

Infected aneurysms of the aorta were first described as a result of septic emboli or contiguous spread from bacterial endocarditis and are usually caused by Staphylococcus or Salmonella species. We report a case of Nocardia-associated infected aneurysm of the native suprarenal aorta in an immunocompromised host. Surgical management consisted of placement of an interposition cryopreserved aortic homograft. Nocardia asteroides was identified on a microbiology specimen of the aorta and both microbiology and pathology specimens of the splenic tissue. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first carefully documented, unique case of a Nocardia-infected aneurysm treated with homograft interposition. In addition, pathologic and microbiologic data are included from the postmortem examination 10 months later.