Popliteal venous aneurysm as a cause of recurrent pulmonary embolism

We report 2 cases of recurrent pulmonary embolism (PE) in popliteal venous aneurysm (PVA). Patients were 78-year-old and 72-year-old women. Both were initially seen for acute PE. Saccular and fusiform PVAs were diagnosed in each patient based on duplex ultrasound. However, despite anticoagulation therapy, both patients had PE. At the time of the event, 1 patient was receiving inadequate dose of low-molecular-weight heparin. The other patient was treated with warfarin and had adequate international normalized ratio at the time of re-embolism, and thus, an inferior vena cava filter was inserted. Both patients underwent successful aneurysm resection without any additional thromboembolic events.