Diagnosing a popliteal venous aneurysm in a primary care setting: a case report.
BACKGROUND
Popliteal venous aneurysms are uncommon but potentially fatal vascular disorders. They can be symptomatic or asymptomatic, mimicking different conditions. Popliteal venous aneurysms are possible sources of embolism.


METHODS
A 68-year-old woman presented at a rural primary health care unit in Crete, Greece, reporting local symptoms of discomfort in the right popliteal fossa with pain during palpation. Colour Doppler ultrasonography revealed local widening and saccular dilatation in the right distal popliteal vein. The diagnosis of a popliteal venous aneurysm was formulated.


CONCLUSIONS
Popliteal venous aneurysms are rare conditions, but are potentially more common than usually thought in daily practice. Physician awareness and access to ultrasound examination may allow for early diagnosis, before the occurrence of any thromboembolic or other major complication.
Symvoulakis
Emmanouil K
EK
Clinic of Social and Family Medicine, Department of Social Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece. symvouman@yahoo.com.
Klinis
Spyridon
S
Peteinarakis
Ioannis
I
Kounalakis
Dimitrios
D
Antonakis
Nikos
N
Tsafantakis
Emmanouil
E
Lionis
Christos
C