A RARE CASE OF AN ANEURYSM OF THE EXTERNAL ILIAC AND THE COMMON FEMORAL VEIN

Objective: To report a case of an external iliac - common femoral vein aneurysm and review the literature on the subject. Design: Case repor t. Setting: Academic Vascular Surgery and Radiology Units, St Mary's H ospital, London, UK. Patients, Interventions and Results: The aneurysm occurred in a 34-year-old woman and was diagnosed with venography, du plex scanning and magnetic resonance venography. It underwent acute th rombosis and, as the thrombus was well organized and extensive, thromb ectomy was not possible, The patient was treated with standard heparin followed by oral anticoagulants for 5 months. Thirty months after the operation the right calf remains swollen but soft and non-tender and the patient is currently treated with grade II full-length compression stockings. Since there were no findings of vein compression or malign ancy it seems that the formation of the aneurysm resulted from a conge nital weakness of the venous wall. Conclusions: The most common presen tation of these aneurysms is of a mass of the abdomen or the iliac fos sa, while thromboembolism is not uncommon. The main causes are arterio venous (AV) fistula formation and congenital weakness of the vein wall . For the first the preferred treatment is AV fistula ligation while f or the rest ligation with or without vein reconstruction has been succ essfully used.