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Hepatic artery aneurysm causing obstructive jaundice

Alexander Julianov, Yonko Georgiev

Abstract

Hepatic artery aneurysms (HAA) are rare and represent 14-20% of all visceral artery aneurysms. The vast majority of HAA are single and are located extrahepatically and nowadays about half of the HAA are iatrogenic, as a consequence of the widespread use of interventional diagnostic and therapeutic biliary procedures. Abdominal trauma, infection, inflammation and atherosclerosis are other common predisposing factors. Most of the HAA are asymptomatic, and 60-80% of the patients are diagnosed when the aneurysm has complicated with rupture and bleeding, obstructive jaundice due to external bile duct compression or rupture of the HAA into the biliary tree with clots occluding the lumen. We present a case of HAA presented with obstructive jaundice. Irrespective of clinical presentation the diagnosis of HAA is always based on imaging studies.

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