Endovascular management of spontaneous axillary artery aneurysm: a case report and review of the literature

Spontaneous atraumatic true axillary artery aneurysm is a relatively unusual disorder. Although most cases are asymptomatic, complications of axillary artery aneurysms may result in acute vascular insufficiency and neurological deficits. Prompt treatment, therefore, should be employed in the management of this condition. To date, the standard treatment for peripheral aneurysms is still surgical resection with end-to-end anastomosis. However, aneurysmectomy and interposition grafting with autologous or artificial vessels are more invasive and time-consuming. The ideal treatment for axillary artery aneurysm should be relatively noninvasive, safe and free of significant complications, cost-effective, cosmetically acceptable, and incur less absence from usual daily activities. Endovascular stent grafts have also been successfully used to treat these aneurysms. Management of select aneurysms using stent grafts has become more prevalent with the developing endoluminal technology.

We report a case of a spontaneous atraumatic axillary artery aneurysm where the patient was a 48-year-old ethnic Han Chinese woman with a gradually enlarging left axillary pulsatile mass. She was treated with endovascular stent grafts. The postoperative course of the patient was uneventful during the six-month follow-up.

We show that there are significant early advantages with the endovascular management technique versus the conventional operation in the management of axillary artery aneurysm.