PERIPHERAL ARTERY PSEUDOANEURYSM - TREATMENT BY TRANSCUTANEOUS COMPRESSION GUIDED BY ULTRASONOGRAPHY

Pseudoaneurysm is a well-recognized complication of invasive arterial procedures that is easily diagnosed with ultrasound. While most pseudo aneurysms will be resolved spontaneously within 3 months, some may lea d to limb swelling, ischemia, thromboembolism, or nerve damage. To for estall such complications, we attempted to close the lesion using ultr asound to guide application of pressure in 13 patients with pseudoaneu rysms following arterial catheterizations. Successful closure averaged 64 minutes (range 20-180) with successful results achieved in 11 (85% ) of the 13 patients. No complications followed the application of eit her manual or device-assisted pressure. We conclude that transcutaneou s compression is a generally safe and successful treatment of uncompli cated pseudoaneurysm and should by used as the treatment of choice for this lesion.