World's first surgical repair of bilateral common iliac artery agenesis.
T Ali, O Woolf, B Farquharson
✦ AI-curated · Sources linked
Case in brief
A 23-year-old woman was found incidentally on abdominal CT to have congenitally absent bilateral common iliac arteries and aortic occlusion below the renal arteries. Hypertrophied collateral vessels supplied blood flow to her lower limbs. After claudication and functional limitations worsened despite conservative management, she underwent surgical revascularisation with an aorto-bifemoral bypass using an axillary-bifemoral graft. Recovery was successful, and she was symptom-free two years after surgery.
What made this case unusual
The report describes surgical repair of bilateral common iliac artery agenesis, an anatomical abnormality the authors identify as rare, and a novel use of a Gore heparin-bonded graft.
Diagnostic / clinical pearl
In this case, hypertrophied collaterals maintained lower-limb flow despite congenital absence of both common iliac arteries and infrarenal aortic occlusion; CT identified the anatomy incidentally.