The unusual entity of paediatric peripheral artery aneurysms

NMUH Staff Publications

47

<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #4a4a4a; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; text-decoration-color: initial;">Peripheral arterial aneurysms in children are rare but when present their aetiologies are manifold. The most common causes are connective tissue disorders, vasculitides, tuberous sclerosis, trauma, infection and congenital-idiopathic. We present a series of four such children with peripheral artery aneurysms. Two children aged two years presented with a left distal brachial artery pseudo-aneurysm which were managed with an interposition vein bypass. Another child aged seven months had a congenital-idiopathic anterior tibial artery aneurysm treated with coil embolisation. The fourth child aged twelve years underwent a greater saphenous vein patch repair and osteotomy to a left popliteal pseudo-aneurysm secondary to a bony exostosis. All patients were neurodevelopmentally normal and clinical examinations did not reveal an autoimmune or infective cause. Since discharge,1-year surveillance Duplex imaging has been normal in all cases. There are no definitive guidelines regarding mode and timing of repair. Surgery is challenging due to the size of the vessels and the need for the conduit to grow with the child. Vein remains the conduit of choice with the use of prosthetic graft potentially exposing the patient to infection and stenosis. Such cases present challenges to the vascular surgeon and a multidisciplinary approach is advocated when delivering care.</span></span> [Conference abstract]