CASE REPORTS  VASCULAR SECTION 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2001 October;42(5):679-81

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Post-traumatic pseudoaneurysm of the common carotid artery. Importance of echo-Doppler evaluation of the intimal damage

Stella N., Rossi G., Catalano A., Udini M.

From the Department of Vascular Surgery Azienda Ospedaliera “E. Morelli”, Sondalo (SO), Italy

Nonpenetrating trau­mas of the extra­cra­ni­al carot­id ­artery are uncom­mon and fre­quent­ly ­involve the carot­id bifur­ca­tion. We ­report a ­case of asymp­to­mat­ic ­post-trau­mat­ic pseu­do­aneu­rysm of the com­mon carot­id ­artery in a 32-­year-old wom­an, detect­ed by ­chance 12 ­years ­after a cer­vi­cal inju­ry. Of all the inves­ti­ga­tions, ­only ­echo-Doppler per­mit­ted the detec­tion of an inti­mal ­tear at the lev­el of the aneu­rys­mat­ic dil­a­ta­tion. After aneu­rys­mec­to­my, 8 mm ­PTFE ­graft replace­ment was car­ried out. We ­believe ­that rou­tine use of ­echo-Doppler ultra­so­nog­ra­phy in all asymp­to­mat­ic ­patients ­with a def­i­nite his­to­ry of con­tu­sive cer­vi­cal trau­ma ­should be rec­om­mend­ed. In our opin­ion, the abso­lute sur­gi­cal indi­ca­tion result­ed ­from the ­local and neu­ro­log­i­cal com­pli­ca­tions poten­tial­ly stem­ming ­from the pseu­do­aneu­rys­mat­ic dil­a­ta­tion.