Endovascular treatment of calcified plaque in the thoracic aorta after recurrent massive embolization.

A 65 year old female patient was admitted with acute onset of severe intermittent claudication in the right lower extremity. Angiography revealed embolic material in the right femoral artery and peripheral arterial thrombosis in the right leg. She was treated with thrombolysis first, thereafter calcified embolic material was removed by open embolectomy. A CT scan showed massive calcification in the thoracic aorta at the level of the occluded left subclavian artery, obviously the origin of embolization. On the second postoperative day she developed critical ischemia in the left lower limb. Angiography showed massive embolization in the left common and external iliac arteries. Following open embolectomy, stentgrafting of the descending thoracic aorta was performed. At one year the patient is in good condition.