Surgical Management and Clinical Outcomes of Extracranial Carotid Artery Pseudoaneurysms

Extracranial carotid artery (CA) pseudoaneurysms are uncommon and can cause embolic stroke, compressive symptoms, or (rarely) can rupture. It is of paramount importance to treat this entity to avoid life-threatening complications. In this study, the authors described a cohort of patients that required open surgical repair.

This article reported the authors' experience with open surgical repair of extracranial CA pseudoaneurysms by presenting a retrospective review of data at their institution from 2016 to 2022.

Of 8 patients that underwent open repair, 6 were male and 8 were female. The most common etiology was traumatic (penetrating trauma in 4 patients, iatrogenic injury in 2, and blunt trauma in 1) and 1 was infective. All patients presented with a neck mass, and 5 had compressive symptoms. Primary repair was performed in 4 patients, interposition graft using an autologous vein in 2, and patch repair in 2. None of the patients experienced perioperative mortality or stroke; nor did they develop any complications over a median follow-up period of 30 months.

This report demonstrated that large-size extracranial pseudoaneurysms, whether traumatic or infective etiology, can be safely repaired using an open surgical approach.