The changing face of femoral artery false aneurysms

Abstract

Objectives: To review the aetiology and method of treatment of all femoral artery false aneurysms from a single centre during the last 9 years.

Design: Retrospective case-note study.

Methods: All patients with a diagnosis of false aneurysm were identified from the hospital data-base between January 1995 and September 2003. A manual search of the case-notes was performed, and data collected on the location, cause and method of repair of the false aneurysm. For all patients with a diagnosis of femoral artery false aneurysm, the patients' medical and drug history and admission time attributable to the false aneurysm were recorded.

Results: One hundred and seven patients were identified. Seventy-nine had false aneurysms of the femoral artery. The majority (40.5%) were caused by coronary angiography, the second commonest cause being breakdown of previous graft anastomosis (29.1%). Over time, the method of treatment became increasingly radiological (most commonly ultrasound-guided thrombin injection), resulting in a significantly reduced hospital admission time (P=0.018).

Conclusions: The incidence of femoral artery false aneurysms appears to be increasing. This is largely a result of an increase in the number of cardiac interventional and diagnostic procedures performed. The introduction of ultrasound-guided thrombin-injection has reduced the inpatient stay of patients with femoral false aneurysms.