Acute occlusion of the right superficial femoral artery following endovascular stent grafting of the right common iliac artery

Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of aortoocclusive disease. However, procedural complications and stent restenosis may occur. Distal embolization is one of the complications that require urgent intervention. Here, we present a 70-year-old male patient presenting with severe pain and loss of motor function of the right leg, following right common iliac artery balloon expandable stent implantation. Embolization of the right superficial femoral artery occurred as an acute complication of the surgery. The patient's past medical history included lung cancer and an operative procedure on bowels. Emergency embolectomy of the right superficial femoral artery resulted in the reversal of the symptoms. Randomized studies have shown that thrombolysis is as effective as surgery. Nevertheless, embolectomy or thrombectomy is accepted as the gold standard treatment with low morbidity and mortality rates. In this case, we chose to perform an embolectomy instead of treating the patient with local thrombolytic agents; following the procedure, there was complete resolution of ischemia and motor function loss.