Successful transcatheter arterial embolization of an inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery aneurysm associated with celiac axis stenosis

A case of inferior pancreaticoduodenal artery (IPDA) aneurysm associated with celiac axis stenosis was successfully treated using only transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE). A 57-year-old woman was urgently referred to our hospital with sudden abdominal pain; computed tomography revealed retroperitoneal hematoma due to bleeding from an aneurysm around the superior mesenteric artery (SMA). Selective angiography into the SMA showed an aneurysm derived from the IPDA posterior branch; the IPDA anterior branch was intact and contrast medium flowed into the common hepatic artery territory through the pancreatic arcade because of celiac axis stenosis. We subsequently performed TAE on the lesion. Arteriography after TAE showed that the aneurysm had disappeared and that the IPDA anterior branch was intact. She had no aneurysm recurrence for about two years after the treatment. We believe that TAE is effective even for a PDA aneurysm with celiac axis stenosis or occlusion. However, it is important to perform embolization precisely and over a long period. (C) 2004 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.