Brachial artery aneurysm in a neonate

Presented in the article is a clinical case report concerning successful surgical treatment of a rare disease - a progressing congenital true brachial artery aneurysm in a newborn girl. The symptoms were first noted at the age of 7 days, later on followed by enlargement of the aneurysm, appearance of neurological symptoms, and impaired function of the extremity. The infant was subjected to clinical examination and ultrasonographic study, followed by surgical removal of the aneurysm and restoration of the brachial artery by an 'end-to-end' anastomosis. The diagnosis was finally verified only at histological examination. Also contained in the article is a review of the literature underlining that paediatric arterial aneurysms are extremely uncommon, as well as discussing the problems of diagnosis and therapeutic policy. The dilatation of the vessel turned out to be a true aneurysm with all three layers of the vessel in the wall and belonged to the class of paediatric congenital idiopathic arterial aneurysms unassociated with degeneration of the vascular wall or cardiovascular pathology.