Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Infected femoral artery pseudoaneurysm is one of the important domains in vascular surgery and femoral pseudoaneurysms has been under focus in particular because of its increasing rate in Intravenous Drug Abusers (IVDAs) and occurrence following common vascular procedures. In this article we assessed the results of femoral artery ligation in patients with femoral pseudoaneurysms.

Methods: In this retrospective case series, we studied 21 patients with femoral pseudoaneurysms whom underwent femoral ligation without revascularization in Hazrat-e-Rasool Akram hospital,

Tehran from Jan 1991 to Dec 2006. We  used patient’s medical records for data collection. The analyses were performed using SPSS V.12. and Chi-squre test.

Results: From the total of 21 patients 20 were male (95%) and 1 patient was female (5%). Mean age was 37.74± 9.4 years. All patients were IV drug abuser. Mean hospital stay was 9.8 ± 9.4 days. Mean of interval between surgery to mobility was 3.89±1.2 days. Claudication was the most prevalent complication of surgery (31.2%). Amputation was done only in 2 patients and there was not any mortality.

Conclusion: Femoral artery ligation is relatively safe and feasible method for treatment of  IV drug abusers as they have the  tendency to develop collateral arteries, are at risk for recurrence of pseudoaneurysms (due to IV abuse) and difficult to follow-up.