Successful Treatment of Iatrogenic External Iliac Artery Perforation With Covered Stent: Case Report and Review of the Literature

Retroperitoneal hemorrhage from iliac artery injury is a potentially serious complication of vascular interventional procedures leading to hemorrhagic shock and death if not diagnosed early and treated promptly. We report a 70-year-old male admitted to our facility with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction, whose heart catheterization revealed left anterior descending artery (LAD) with 80% proximal, 95% mid and 100% distal disease. The left circumflex and right coronary arteries were 100% occluded proximally and received collaterals from the LAD. The patient declined coronary artery bypass surgery; therefore, the decision was made to perform high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of the LAD with Impella left ventricular assist device support. Left femoral artery angiogram revealed severely tortuous and calcified aorta, left external iliac and left common iliac arteries, and was accessed with 14-inch Impella sheath. He developed groin pain with mild hypotension thought to be due to sedation, which responded to intravenous fluids and dopamine. He underwent successful rotational atherectomy of the proximal and mid LAD with deployment of drug-eluting stents. Following PCI, he suffered acute profound hypotension necessitating intravenous fluids and vasopressor support with epinephrine. Emergency transthoracic echocardiogram did not reveal any pericardial effusion, and showed normal left ventricle and right ventricle systolic function. The Impella device was removed and selective left common iliac angiogram from the right femoral access revealed a vascular injury site with shift of the bladder to the right indicative of retroperitoneal hematoma. A digital subtraction angiogram revealed extravasation of blood at the vascular injury site. An 8.0 × 59 mm iCAST covered stent was deployed to the left external iliac artery with successful sealing of the perforation. The Impella device site was closed with two Perclose devices. The patient required 4 units of packed red blood cell transfusion. His hospital course was complicated by transient acute kidney injury, with return of his renal function to baseline at discharge 10 days later. This case underscores the importance of prompt recognition and treatment of vascular complications associated with interventional procedures, and highlights some of the risk predictors of such complications, which should be anticipated and planned for prior to intervention.