Early atherosclerotic lesions spiraling through the femoral artery.

Atherosclerosis is common in the adductor hiatus region. The aim of this study was to evaluate atherosclerosis in relation to themorphological structure of the femoropopliteal region. Two anatomic features are thought to play an important role in the origin of these lesions: (1) curvature of the vessel, which may lead to unfavorable local hemodynamic factors that change during leg flexion; and (2) abrupt changes in stiffness of surrounding tissues of the vessel. The distal part of 23 postmortem femoral arteries were investigated. Cross sections were obtained every 1 mm over a length of 100 mm. For each cross section, lesion thickness was measured at 12 points along the circumference of the vessel. No apparent relation was found between surrounding structures of the femoral artery and location of atherosclerotic lesions. Three-dimensional reconstructions showed that atherosclerotic lesions were spiraling through the artery in 18 of 23 cases. Spiraling atherosclerotic lesions may be consistent with expected flow patterns in this part of the femoral artery.