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Case Reports
. 2015 Nov 20:15:540.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-015-1239-7.

Surgical treatment of syphilitic superficial femoral artery aneurysm: a rare case report

Zhihua Cheng  1 , Sean X Luo  2 , Xiwei Sun  3 , Siqiao Sun  4 , Zhongying Wang  5 , Yuzhu Jiang  6 , Zhiyuan An  7 , Qi Wang  8
Affiliations
Case Reports

Surgical treatment of syphilitic superficial femoral artery aneurysm: a rare case report

Zhihua Cheng et al. BMC Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: Arterial aneurysm is a known complication of syphilis, but the occurrence of femoral artery aneurysm secondary to the syphilitic disease has never been reported.

Case presentation: The present study described a 60-year-old Chinese male who presented with two aneurysms in the middle and lower segment of the right superficial femoral artery causing the symptoms of pain, coldness and numbness in the right lower limb. This case was diagnosed with syphilitic superficial femoral aneurysm because of positive syphilitic testing and the inflammatory cell infiltration around the adventitial vasa vasorum under the pathological examination. Anti-syphilis treatment, stent graft implantation and open surgery were attempted to eliminate the syphilis and aneurysm, which was ultimately successful, with no symptoms after a follow-up of 3 months.

Conclusion: Combined open and endovascular repair may be effective and safe for treatment of syphilitic femoral artery aneurysms.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The color Doppler ultrasonography of the right lower limb showed the presence of the aneurysm at the right femoral superficial artery accompanied by peri-hematoma
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The computed tomography angiography of the lower limbs showed the formation of two aneurysms in the middle and lower segment of the right femoral superficial artery (arrow)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The digital subtraction angiography demonstrated the distal occlusion of the right femoral superficial artery
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Pathology of the excised aneurysmal tissue revealed the proliferation of the vasa vasorum in the adventitia, with sporadic infiltration of inflammatory cells (arrow, a); the fibroplasia in the arterial wall along with the local calcification (arrow, b) and mucoid degeneration (arrow, c)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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