TRUE ANEURYSM OF THE INFERIOR THYROID ARTERY - CASE-REPORT AND REVIEWOF THE LITERATURE

In a patient already operated for abdominal aortic aneurysm fifteen mo nths previously, because of the onset of aspecific vertigo, instrument al investigations of the supra aortic vessels showed us the presence o f a non palpable mass, in the left side of the neck, Duplex Scanner, a ngio-CT and Angiography let us suspect the presence of an aneurysm loc ated somewhere in the course of the thyrocervical trunk. At the operat ion the aneurysm, which we originally suspected to be a false and a po ssibly iatrogenic one, in the reality was a true aneurysm and was loca ted at the termination of the thyrocervical trunk, just in the first s egment of the inferior thyroid artery. The case is reported because of its rarity and the difficulties in the preoperative diagnosis.