[Spontaneous dissection of the iliac artery; treatment with a stent]

In three relatively young patients (two women of 61 and 44 and a man of 42) spontaneous dissections of the iliac artery were diagnosed. Pain in the groin, with radiation to back or upper leg were the main presenting symptoms, twice leading to groin exploration for femoral hernia. Duplex sonography is an excellent non-invasive examination to visualise the dissection and its haemodynamic importance. Sooner or later all dissections lead to invasive therapy. In one patient a aorto-bi-iliac prosthesis was inserted, in the other two an intravascular self-expandable stent (Wall stent), with both anatomically and functionally good results. Long-term results of application of a Wall stent for this purpose are not available yet, but it looks very promising.