Infected popliteal pseudoaneurysm in a youth basketball player: A case report and brief review of the literature.

Abstract

An infected popliteal pseudoaneurysm has never been described in the pediatric population. Physicians need to be aware of its presentation and management, in order to diagnose and treat this medical condition adequately. We describe the case of a 14-year-old boy who developed myositis and cellulitis centered at the popliteal fossa after playing basketball. A treatment of intravenous cefazolin was started. 5days later, he experienced a knee pain flare-up, which turned out to be a popliteal pyomyositis with a pseudoaneurysm of the popliteal artery. A saphenous vein graft bypass of the popliteal artery and an excision of the popliteal pseudoaneurysm were performed. Intravenous cefazolin was continued for 6weeks and prophylactic acetylsalicylic acid for 6months. This case highlighted the importance of repeating radiologic investigations if a patient suffering from soft tissue infection has persistent pain after several days of appropriate antibiotics. A popliteal pseudoaneurysm can be diagnosed with ultrasound imaging and treated with a popliteal-popliteal bypass. Our patient needed a catheter-guided dilation of the anastomosis at the vein graft 6months post-surgery, and then evolved favorably and went back to playing basketball 6months post-dilation.