Successful endovascular treatment of popliteal artery entrapment syndrome: a case report with 3-years follow-up

Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome (PAES) is a rare cause of lower extremity arterial ischemia, especially in elder patients. At present, the role of the endovascular technique for PAES is still mainly auxiliary, there is no successful case treated successfully by endovascular treatment without open surgery, and also the long-term follow-up after endovascular treatment are lacking. We successfully treated a 51-year-old man with pale, cold right foot by endovascular therapy only, including percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and catheter directed thrombolysis. After endovascular treatment, the ABI of the right leg increased from 0.41 to 0.85, and the patient return to his life without claudication. Computed tomography angiography demonstrated the diagnosis of PAES. The 3-year follow-up showed a good clinical outcome, suggesting that for certain type of PAES, endovascular treatment alone may achieve good results. However, this result still requires confirmation in a large-sample study.