Clinical Snapshot
Femoral Artery Pseudoaneurysm Due to Stent Fracture in PAOD
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A 95-year-old female patient presented to our interdisciplinary vascular center with a painful pulsating mass in the region of the right medial thigh. The patient reported that the mass had markedly increased in size in recent weeks. The patient had a known history of PAOD and had undergone percutaneous balloon dilatation and stent implantation in the region of the right thigh roughly 9 years earlier. Duplex ultrasound revealed a pseudoaneurysm measuring approximately 3.5 × 2.6 cm in the mid-segment of the right superficial femoral artery, with suspected stent fracture. Angiography confirmed the stent fracture and pseudoaneurysm. During the same session, the pseudoaneurysm was excluded using an endoprosthesis in the region of the fractured stent. Peripheral stents of the superficial femoral artery may exhibit material fatigue years after implantation due to continuous mechanical stress and long stented segments, with stent fractures potentially leading to vascular wall injury. In rare cases, aneurysms may develop that can cause life-threatening hemorrhage in the event of rupture.
Dr. med. sci. Marcus Brugger, Dr. med. Christian Bradaric, Prof. Dr. med. Tareq Ibrahim, Klinik und Poliklinik für Innere Medizin I, TUM Klinikum, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, marcus.brugger@tum.de
Conflict of interest statement: The authors state that no conflict of interest exists.
Translated from the original German by Christine Rye.
Cite this as: Brugger M, Bradaric C, Ibrahim T: Femoral artery pseudoaneurysm due to stent fracture in PAOD. Dtsch Arztebl Int 2026; 123: 252b. DOI: 10.3238/arztebl.m2026.0021
