Internal Carotid Artery Pseudoaneurysm As a Rare Complication of Labor: a Case Report

Pseudoaneurysms of carotid artery are rare. Nearlyall aneurysms are acquired and more commonlyseen in adults. Internal carotid artery aneurysms(ICA) represent 5.6% of all carotid aneurysms.Labor is a rare cause of ICA aneurysm. Repeatedminor hemorrhages from the nose and throat, Horner s syndrome are typical symptoms of a pseu-doaneurysm of ICA. A 44-year-old multiparaousfemale presented to our clinic with a complaint ofswelling in the neck for one month. The mass inthe neck had appeared after her last (11th) labor.Physical examination of the neck revealed a 5x5cm mass in the left side of the neck. Computedtomography (CT) revealed a pseudoaneurysm orig-inating from the wall of internal carotid artery whichwas surrounded by a hematoma. The treatment ofthe pseudoaneurysm of ICA is endovascular inter-vention or ICA ligation. In our patient endovascularintervention was not successful, therefore ICA was ligated. We report this case because ICA aneu-rysms are rare, therefore they should be thought inthe differential diagnosis of neck masses.