NON POPLITEAL LOCATION OF CYSTIC ADVENTIA L DISEASE - LITERATURE-REVIEW

Cystic adventitial disease is an uncommon vascular anomaly first descr ibed in 1947 in the external iliac artery. The preferential localizati on is the popliteal artery although other arteries and veins may also be involved though not always recognized. There have been 45 extra pop liteal localizations of adventitial cysts reported in the literature. Thirty cases involved an artery an 15 a vein. The iliofemoral axis, wi th 33 reported cases, is the preferential localization of these extra- popliteal adventitial cysts (including 22 arteries and 11 veins). All the other cases also involved a vessel near an articulation (knee, ank le, elbow, wrist). Despite a preferential popliteal arterial localizat ion only one case involved the popliteal vein. The diagnosis is rarely made before surgery, probably because of the nonspecific clinical pre sentation. Ultrasonography should allow better recognition of these ad ventitial cysts, eliminating an aneurysm or a synovial cyst, and evide ncing the localization of the cyst within the vessel wall.