Endovascular repair of a life-threatening radiation-induced ruptured false aneurysm of the intrathoracic left subclavian artery: case report

Abstract

Massive hemorrhage in tracheostomy patients is generally described as a result of a tracheoinnominate artery fistula. Other etiologies for rupture of a false aneurysm are rare. The classical procedure for subclavian artery aneurysm is open surgery. Endovascular techniques have been accepted by several authors as a possible minimally invasive alternative. We report a life-threatening radiation-induced ruptured false aneurysm of the intrathoracic subclavian artery successfully treated by endovascular stent graft through left brachial access in a tracheostomy patient.

Keywords:

• tracheostomy hemorrhage
• radiation-induced aneurysm
• subclavian artery
• ruptured aneurysm
• endovascular repair

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Marc Derluyn, who encouraged them in the way they chose to treat this patient.

Disclosure

This case report was presented as a poster at the annual meeting of the International Society for Vascular Surgery, March 9–11, 2012, Miami, FL, USA. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare in respect of this work.