21 Cases Of Diagnosis And Treatment Of Popliteal Artery Aneurysm

PurposeTo study the diagnosis and treatment of popliteal artery aneurysm(PAA) to improve the prognosis of patients.MethodsRetrospectively reviewed 21 patients admitted to our clinic from Octobor 1983 to September 2008,and discuss the diagnosis and therapy.Results17 patients of all the 21 cases can be primarily diagnosed as popliteal artery aneurysm,with the signifant clinical manifestations.The other 4 cases need more examinations such as Doppler sonography,arteriography and Computer tomography(CT).All the 21 patients received surgery operations,including autogenous saphenous vein graft after aneurysmal resection(n=8), synthetic vessel graft after aneurysmal resection(n=8), synthetic vessel graft bypass after aneurysmal exclusion(n=3)and endoaneurysmorrhaphy(n=2).5 patients were lost to follow up, and postoperative follow up of the other 16 patients ranged from 5 months to 21years.6 patients found no manifestations of limb ischemia in the autogenous group,3 patients in the synthetic group relatively.Two patients received amputation after the operation because of the occlusion of synthetic vessel.One patient died of multiple organ failure.ConclusionsWe can get the true incidence of popliteal artery aneurysm in our country with improving people's health awareness and promotion of Doppler ultrasound screening for the disease in the population. Once the diagnosis of popliteal artery aneurysm was established, we should check the aorta and peripheral arteries routinely, so as to avoid the misdiagnosis of multiple aneurysms affecting the treatment of patients.For symptomatic popliteal aneurysm or asymptomatic one with diameter larger than 2 cm,operation is indicated,mainly by open surgery in our country,as far as possible use of autologous graft.With the development of technology,endovascular repair would be more used in the treatment of popliteal artery aneurysms.