Selective angiography, as performed by the retrograde femoral artery technique, is an extremely useful tool in the diagnosis of cardiac and vascular disease. In a small number of patients, however, complications of the procedure do occur. One complication which is hitherto unreported, to our knowledge, is dissecting aneurysm of the superficial femoral artery. Because of the rarity of its occurrence, the following case is reported.
Report of Case
This was the first Mount Sinai Hospital admission of a 40-year-old white woman who had experienced severe claudication and weakness of her right leg for five months. The symptoms began immediately after she underwent retrograde femoral artery catheterization at another hospital for visualization of her renal arteries. The catheter had been inserted into the right femoral artery under direct vision. Significant physical findings were limited to the lower extremities. Both legs were warm, and there were no abnormalities of the skin except