Abstract
Femoral artery injury can be caused by endovascular interventions or surgical procedure. There have been a few reports of trauma to the femoral artery caused by animal bites. To our knowledge, trauma of the femoral artery caused by deer antlers is rare. We herein report a case of successfully treated traumatic superficial femoral artery (SFA) injury caused by deer antlers. A 74-year old female encountered a male deer while taking a walk in the woods. The deer gored her in the left thigh and she was taken to a nearby hospital. Computed tomography (CT) angiography showed left SFA occlusion and she was transferred to our hospital for treatment. Physical examination on admission showed 4 puncture wounds in her left thigh, which have already stopped bleeding. Although her left femoral pulse was present, no pulses were palpable in the left posterior tibial artery and dorsalis pedis artery. An emergency operation was performed. The antelope’s horn had penetrated the SFA but the hemostasis was achieved. After segmental resection of an injured femoral artery, end-to-end anastomosis was performed. There were no signs of local infection. However, postoperative lymphorrhea lead to prolonged hospital stay. The patient was discharged to home on postoperative day 22. Follow-up CT confirmed patency of the left SFA.
