Abstract
A persistent sciatic artery is a very rare anomalous continuation of the internal iliac artery which provides the major blood supply to the popliteal artery. We accidentally found it in an 83-year-old woman who suffered from a fracture of her left femoral neck. The persistent sciatic artery had close proximity to the sciatic nerve while replacing the hip joint with the prosthesis. It was detected on an arteriogram which showed that it originated from the internal iliac artery and traveled to the popliteal artery. The superficial femoral artery was also found to be hypoplastic. This anomaly should be kept in mind in the clinical assessment of any neurovascular disease.
