[Segmental vasculitis. Report of a case involving the popliteal artery]

A case of occlusion of the popliteal artery, in a young female patient with limb threatening ischemia, probably due to a segmental vasculitis, is reported. The surgical treatment, consisting of a femoro-distal bypass, was able to improve dramatically tissue perfusion; however, due to septic complications, major limb amputation was unavoidable. It is stressed that the treatment of vasculitis should be adapted to each individual case; in selected patients, surgical revascularization appears to offer the only possibility of correcting a "desperate" situation.