Epistaxis is a common problem encountered in clinical practice. It is usually self-limiting and is usually controlled with conservative measures such as nasal compression or ice-packs. Occasionally nasal packing is required. It is rarely severe enough that surgical intervention is warranted. The following report illustrates a patient who presented to us with a rare cause of life-threatening epistaxis that is, a post-traumatic pseudoaneurysm who finally required surgical intervention to control the bleeding.
Knowledge of variations of the internal carotid artery is significant to surgeons and radiologists. The internal carotid artery normally runs a straight course in the neck. Its anomalies can lead to its iatrogenic injuries. We report a case of a large loop of the internal carotid artery in a male cadaver aged about 75 years. The common carotid artery terminated by dividing it into the external carotid artery and internal carotid arteries at the level of the upper border of the thyroid cartilage. From the level of origin, the internal carotid artery coursed upwards, backwards and laterally, and formed a large loop behind the internal jugular vein. The variation was found on the left side of the neck and was unilateral. The uncommon looping of the internal carotid artery might result in altered blood flow to the brain and may lead to misperceptions in surgical, imaging, and invasive procedures.
Epistaxis is commonly encountered in otorhinolaryngologic practice. However, severe and recurrent epistaxis is rarely seen, especially that originating from a pseudoaneurysm of the intracavernous internal carotid artery (ICA). We herein present the case of a 32-year-old man who was involved in a motor vehicle accident and subsequently developed recurrent episodes of profuse epistaxis for the next three months, which required blood transfusion and nasal packing to control the bleeding. Computed tomography angiography revealed a large intracavernous ICA pseudoaneurysm measuring 1.7 cm × 1.2 cm × 1.0 cm. The patient underwent emergent four-vessel angiography and coil embolisation and was discharged one week later without any episode of bleeding. He remained asymptomatic after three-month and one‑year intervals. This case report highlights a large intracavernous ICA pseudoaneurysm as a rare cause of epistaxis, which requires a high index of suspicion in the right clinical setting and emergent endovascular treatment to prevent mortality.
Intracavernous carotid artery aneurysm following head injury is a rare occurrence. Two such cases presenting with delayed but massive and repeated epistaxis are reported and the literature reviewed. The first case required a trapping procedure while the second case had only cervical carotid ligation to control the bleeding. Both resulted in no neurological sequelae.