Persistent sciatic artery—A curious vascular anomaly

Abstract

A persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is a rare vascular anomaly not extensively described in the interventional cardiology literature. Because of its vulnerable position, it is associated with a high risk of aneurysm formation, making it prone to thrombus formation with subsequent arterial insufficiency because of distal embolization. We report the case of an 80-year-old woman who was found to have bilateral PSA with unilateral aneurysm and evidence of possible distal embolization on conventional angiography.

A Case of mistaken identity: Persistent sciatic artery stenosis as a cause of critical limb ischemia

“…The umbilical artery typically develops into the internal iliac artery and when the sciatic artery fails to regress, the persistent sciatic artery links the internal iliac artery to the arterial tree below the knee via the sciatic foramen and the posterior thigh. On physical examination, patients with PSA are typically described to have absent femoral pulses with easily palpable popliteal and distal pulses [2]. A recent case report and review of the literature describes five types of PSA with varying degrees of femoral and sciatic artery contribution of blood flow distal to the knee (Fig.…”

Bilateral persistent sciatic arteries complicated with chronic lower limb ischemia

“…3 The failure to regress, sometimes associated with femoral arterial hypoplasia, and therefore becoming the dominant inflow to the lower extremity is called persistent sciatic artery. [4][5][6] PSA is a rare vascular anomaly associated with a higher rate of aneurysm formation or thromboembolic complications causing lower extremity ischemia. [7][8][9] We report a 15-year-old female patient with bilateral PSA suffering from lower extremity ischemia.…”