POPLITEAL SARCOMAS MASQUERADING AS POPLITEAL ANEURYSMS - CASE-REPORTS

Popliteal masses are frequently referred to vascular surgeons with a p resumptive diagnosis of popliteal aneurysm. Evaluation by the vascular surgeon must exclude other diagnoses such as Baker's cyst or neoplasm . This case report focuses on two patients referred to the vascular su rgery service with popliteal masses. The first patient had a prior pop liteal aneurysm repair and the second patient was thought to have a po pliteal aneurysm without palpable pedal pulses. Evaluation included du plex ultrasound scanning and imaging with either computed tomography o r magnetic resonance. After these studies were performed, both patient s underwent fine needle aspiration (FNA) to determine the cytologic fe atures of the masses. Final diagnosis for each patient was a soft tiss ue sarcoma. The differential diagnosis of a popliteal mass should incl ude both nonneoplastic and neoplastic etiologies. If a neoplasm is sug gested, FNA can help differentiate between benign versus malignant and primary versus metastatic disease. Many soft tissue lesions can then be treated based on clinical, radiologic, and cytologic data without t he need for open biopsy. Since FNA has a low morbidity rate, the autho rs recommend early FNA in the evaluation of soft tissue popliteal mass es. These cases are reported so that vascular surgeons will be prepare d to evaluate patients with popliteal masses for diagnoses other than popliteal aneurysms.