CLINICAL CASES   

Italian Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery 2006 March;13(1):15-9

Copyright © 2006 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

True aneurysm of the brachial artery in a kidney transplant patient. Case report

Ventura M. ¹, Perilli L. ¹, Pisani F. ², Cucciolillo L. ¹, Franceschini E. ¹

¹ Department of Vascular Surgery University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy 2 Department of Transplant Surgery University of L’Aquila, L’Aquila, Italy

True aneurysms of the brachial artery are a rare pathology, with an incidence of 0.17% of all reconstructive surgery of such artery. Brachial artery dilation proximal to arteriovenous fistulae is reported in the literature. We describe a case of a 63-year-old patient with previous Brescia-Cimino arteriovenous fistula (AF) ligated after kidney transplantation with a large true aneurysm of the brachial artery treated with PTFE graft. Local hemodynamic stress and immunosuppressive therapy are probably invocated in the cause of this pathology. In the light of this clinical case with high risk of thrombosis and peripheral embolism, screening of all patients with hemodialytic AF by means of color Doppler of the upper limbs arteries may be useful.