Emergency endovascular treatment of a ruptured external carotid artery pseudoaneurysm caused by a cervical stab wound: A case report and literature review

The formation of external carotid artery (ECA) pseudoaneurysms caused by stab wounds is a rare vascular anomaly. Although the surgical exploration of the ECA segment is the standard treatment, endovascular treatment (EVT) can be considered if there is difficulty in identifying the source of bleeding in the injured regions that are difficult to operatively access. Here we treated a young patient who had hemorrhagic instability with hemorrhage-inducedcoagulopathy caused by a zone III cervical stab wound with a pseudoaneurysm from the main trunk of the ECA; the patient underwent EVT and successful hemostasis. A literature review based on the data available on PubMed was conducted, and 15 published reports of 82 penetrating ECA injuries treated by EVT were identified. We concluded that EVT appears to be an effective surgical alternative for patients with hemorrhage-induced coagulopathy caused by a ruptured ECA pseudoaneurysm after a cervical stab wound.