Diagnosis and surgical treatment of a persistent sciatic artery aneurysm.

The persistent sciatic artery is situated superficially in the gluteal region wherein it can be traumatized in normal daily activities: during a prolonged sitting position or while attempting to sit down. This leads to an early atherosclerotic lesion of the sciatic artery, to the development of aneurysmatic dilatation, and damage to the arterial wall. The present article describes a 72-year-old female patient presenting with a persistent sciatic artery of the left leg and a PSA aneurysm which consequently resulted in critical ischaemia of her left lower limb. This abnormality was detected during an examination and the woman was subjected to the operation of internal iliac-posterior tibial bypass grafting using an autologous vein with ligation of the sciatic artery. The bypass graft has been functioning for 5 months, with no events of critical ischaemia.