Case report: pseudoaneurysm of popliteal artery complicating a total knee replacement: a successful percutaneous endovascular treatment.

A 71-year-old woman underwent a total right knee replacement for a severe arthritis. Eight days after the operation, she presented an oedema of the right leg. Moreover, the foot remained well perfused with palpable pedal pulse. A colour duplex examination was performed for the suspicion of a phlebitis. There was no venous thrombosis, but the popliteal vein was collapsed by a 55×40 mm false aneurysm in the popliteal fossa. The history of this patient revealed a bilateral stripping of the great saphenous vein and an angor pectoris. This false aneurysm was repaired the following day under local anaesthesia in the operating room. We Fig. 1. Popliteal false aneurysm. used an anterograd right femoral arterial puncture. An angiography was performed via this percutaneous access to confirm the diagnosis of false aneurysm, and to locate precisely the site of the deployment of the stent (Fig. 1). The patient was heparinised intravenously (4000 UI). A standard 0.035 inch guide wire (Terumo⊂, U.S.A.) was pushed through the popliteal artery. A 6 mm×4 cm stent graft (Passenger⊂, Medi∗ Please address all correspondence to: Ph. Plagnol, Centre Hospitalier Pasteur, 33210 Langon, France. tech, U.S.A.) was chosen, and placed with its own 10