Percutaneous Treatment of Iatrogenic False Femoral Aneurysms by Ultrasound-guided Thrombin Injection

Since the 2000s, endovascular procedures have been expanding rapidly in multiple disciplines: cardiology, radiology, interventional neuroradiology, and of course vascular surgery. Most procedures are performed by puncture of the common femoral artery with introducers ranging in size from 4F to 26F for aortic procedures. The most frequent complications of percutaneous punctures are false femoral aneurysms due to failure to close the arterial gap (up to 8% in some studies). A false aneurysm is a pocket of blood communicating with an artery and secondary to the rupture of the arterial wall. The blood is then contained by the adjacent structures and often a fibrous shell which distinguishes it from an aneurysm which retains the integrity of its wall. The management of false femoral aneurysms is variable. Below 2 cm, monitoring may be performed with or without manual or ultrasound-guided compression. In case of persistence of the false aneurysm and/or complication, open surgery can be performed. Endovascular treatment of false aneurysms was first proposed in 1986. Different endovascular techniques can be proposed to occlude false aneurysms such as the use of coils, biological glue, the use of arterial closure systems... Echoguided injection of thrombin to occlude the false aneurysm in a manner has been published since the late 1990s. The treatment is evaluated as reliable and safe. A recent article in the EJVES (6) investigates the value of low-dose thrombin for this indication, and the results appear to be very encouraging for low-dose thrombin in false femoral aneurysms. Thrombin injection for the treatment of iatrogenic false femoral aneurysms is the technique currently favoured by the vascular surgery team at the Paris Saint Joseph Hospital Group (GHPSJ). Open surgery is a second-line treatment and remains indicated in case of acute symptoms (radiculalgia, motor/sensory deficits; ischemia, skin necrosis), a false aneurysm that is too deep or without a neck, an i