Management of femoral artery pseudoaneurysm due to addictive drug injection

Objective: To study surgical management for patients with femoral pseudoaneurysm resulting from addictive druginjection.Methods: Clinical data of 34 patients with femoral pseudoaneurysm resulting from addictive drug injection were retrospectively reviewed.Results: Thirteen patients underwent bypass graft ( end to side) of external iliac artery and superficial femoral artery using expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE).Three patients who had an autogenous saphenous vein graft in situs, one of whom was then performed an ePTFE graft when rupture and bleeding occurred at the anastomotic site. Color Doppler image showed patent grafted blood vessels in all the patients after operation. Eighteen patients had their femoral arteries ligated. Limbs of all the 34 patients were saved.Conclusions: Ligating femoral artery is an effective way to treat femoral artery pseudoaneurysm if autogenous saphenous vein graft or artificial vessel graft is notapplicable.