Abstract:
A 17-year-old male presented to the emergency department with
complaints of pain, paleness, and coldness in his left leg. In the peripheral
angiography, total occlusion in the left popliteal artery was
observed with distal collateral filling (Fig. 1). On the thoracic CT, a
bilobular ruptured cystic lesion 0.9 × 2.7 cm in size in the interventricular
septum partially extended to the left ventricle (Fig. 2).
The patient was admitted to emergency surgery. A capsule consistent
with a hydatid cyst was removed from the popliteal artery, which
was confirmed pathologically (Fig. 3).
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of popliteal
artery embolism in an adolescent patient because of rupture of cardiac
hydatid cyst. In cases of vascular embolism developing suddenly in
the extremities, it will be useful to consider ruptured cardiac hydatid cyst
in the differential diagnosis, particularly in endemic regions.
