Venous Aneurysm Occurring after Revisional Hip Surgery: A Case Report

Objective: To report a rare case of venous aneurysm. Design: Case report. Setting: Departments of General Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery, The Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, a district general hospital. Patient, intervention and results: A 63-year-old woman underwent revision of a right total hip replacement in 1994, using a cemented prosthesis. She continued to have pain in the region of the hip and a pulsatile swelling was noted in the right iliac fossa. A pseudoaneurysm of the external iliac artery was suspected but investigations showed a venous aneurysm of the external iliac vein. Thus far, this aneurysm has been observed without complication. In 1996 the prosthesis was revised because of loosening of the femoral component and the pain resolved. Conclusion: Vascular injury is a rare complication of total hip replacement and thermal arterial injury can occur. Iliac venous aneurysms are recognized but are extremely rare so we conclude that this lesion was caused by thermal injury.