A Lemierre-like syndrome caused by Staphylococcus aureus: an emerging disease.

Despite its clear definition, Lemierre's syndrome is frequently used to describe any septic thrombophlebitis of the jugular vein. We report a Lemierre-like syndrome caused by Staphylococcus aureus without an oropharyngeal infection and present a systematic synthesis of reported cases to date of Lemierre-like syndrome caused by S. aureus. In addition to our case, 24 cases were found. In contrast to the classical picture, S. aureus is associated with an oropharyngeal infection in less than half of the cases. Another striking feature is the significant proportion of patients being very young and the fact that all 25 cases were published in the last 17 years. S. aureus is a rare, but emerging cause of Lemierre-like syndrome. Adequate patient care rests on a high index of suspicion, prompt initiation of antibiotic therapy and early detection and management of metastatic abscesses.BULLET POINT SUMMARYThe term Lemierre's syndrome should be reserved for the classic triad of bacteraemia caused by anaerobic pathogens (primarily Fusobacterium necrophorum), evidence of internal jugular venous thrombosis, and a history of recent oropharyngeal infection.Similar syndromes not caused by anaerobic organisms or without history of an oropharyngeal infection should be named Lemierre-like syndrome and may be a more challenging diagnosis.Staphylococcus aureus is a cause of Lemierre-like syndrome, especially in very young children (<2 years old).The Staphylococcus aureus Lemierre-like syndrome is an emerging clinical syndrome.Adequate patient care is based on a high index of suspicion, prompt initiation of broad-spectrum antibiotics and active detection and management of metastatic abscesses.

Combined open and endovascular repair of a true right subclavian artery aneurysm without proximal neck.

A 52-year-old man, without a medical history, presented with an incidentally detected large, intrathoracic aneurysm of the right subclavian artery. The aneurysm was characterized by the absence of a proximal neck and extended distally close to the origin of the right vertebral artery. We successfully excluded this aneurysm with a combined endovascular and minimally invasive open repair, thereby avoiding a sternotomy or lateral thoracotomy: a stent-graft was placed from the proximal brachiocephalic trunk to the common carotid artery, completely covering the origin of the right subclavian artery. The right subclavian artery was oversewn just distally to the aneurysm and revascularization of the right arm was assured by a carotido-subclavian bypass. Clinical follow-up was uneventful and radiological follow-up by CT-scan showed discrete, but progressive shrinkage of the completely excluded aneurysm.