Persistent Sciatic Artery in Right Lower Extremity Complicated by Thrombosis: A Case Report

Persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is a rare congenital vascular malformation with an incidence of approximately 0.025% to 0.04%. Persistent sciatic artery has major complications, such as aneurysms, thrombosis, and occlusion. Complications may lead to a range of serious clinical problems, and a timely diagnosis of this vascular variant is crucial to avoid life-threatening complications.

A 65-year-old man was admitted to the hospital with pain and chills in the right lower extremity for 2 months, which gradually worsened. This was accompanied by numbness in the right foot for the last 10 days. Computed tomography angiography showed that the right inferior gluteal artery and right popliteal artery of the right internal iliac artery were connected, which is considered a congenital developmental variant. This was complicated by multiple thromboses of the right internal and external iliac arteries, and the right femoral artery. After admission to the hospital, the patient underwent endovascular staging surgery to relieve numbness and pain in the lower extremities.

Treatment strategies can be selected based on the anatomical characteristics of PSA and superficial femoral artery. Asymptomatic patients with PSA can be closely monitored. Surgery or individualized endovascular treatment plans should be considered for patients with aneurysm formation or vascular occlusion.

For the rare vascular variation of the PSA, clinicians must make a timely and accurate diagnosis. Ultrasound screening is essential, which requires experienced ultrasound doctors to be aware of vascular interpretation and develop personalized treatment plans for each patient. In this case, we adopt staged a minimally invasive intervention to solve the problem of lower limb ischemic pain for patients. This operation has the advantages of rapid recovery and less trauma, which has important reference significance for other clinicians.