Snapshot quiz 12/8b

Published: 07/03/2012

Authors: Qureshi AU

A 24-year-old male intravenous drug user presented with this lesion on his right thigh. Intravenous drug users inject easily accessible sites (e.g. femoral and cubital veins) for intravenous injections. Use of septic needles and faulty injections in adjacent arteries form a pseudoaneurysm, which can be an easy port of entry for injections. The usual mode of presentation is one of complications; flash bleeding being most common. Treatment is to excise the pseudoaneurysm, debride the surrounding necrotic tissues and ligate any involved vessels, followed by a second-stage extra-anatomical bypass if required.