[How often does an aneurysm of the popliteal artery rupture?]

Rupture of a popliteal artery aneurysm is an unusual complication and did occur six times in our series of 252 popliteal artery aneurysms that underwent operative repair from January 1965 to December 1991. Rupture while equally serious as thrombosis of the popliteal artery aneurysm of distal embolization from the aneurysm, is reported as an exceedingly unusual complication. Reported incidence of rupture is less than 2 to 4 percent in most large series and was 2.4 percent in the present series.