Autopsy results of an elderly case of Parkinson's disease and aorto-esophageal fistula who died of a massive hematemesis during prolonged bed rest

Abstract

An 81-year-old female patient with an 8-year history of Parkinson's disease was hospitalized because of aspiration pneumonia. The clinical course of her pneumonia was prolonged because of dysphagia with a short period of remission, and she required a long period of bed rest. She received supportive nutrition via a nasogastric tube and many peroral medications that consisted of 3 anti-Parkinsonian drugs and 5 anti-bacterial or anti-tussive agents. Six months after admission, she vomited fresh blood through the nasogastric tube, then went into hypovolemic shock. Hemodynamic stability was temporarily achieved by blood transfusion. Gastroduodenal endoscopic examination could not reveal the exact bleeding site because of massive blood clots. Five days later, the patient died of a massive hematemesis. Autopsy revealed 2 chronic longitudinal ulcers, each 1.7 x 0.4 cm in size, in the upper portion of the esophagus. One of them had developed a fistula to the aorta. Neither esophageal carcinoma nor a foreign body was detected around the fistula. Atherosclerosis of the aorta was mild and the perforation channel was covered with the esophageal epithelium. The fistula was assumed to be a product of local esophageal injury due to drug retention.