[False aneurysm: a complication of carotid endarterectomy].

False aneurysm of the carotid artery is a rare complication of carotid endarterectomy. We present a 65-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man with this condition. In 1 the artery had been closed with a Dacron patch graft, and in the other by direct suture. In the first case the aneurysm was successfully repaired with an expanded GoreTex (PTFE) patch graft sutured with monofilament nylon. In neither case was an organism grown from cultures taken at operation. The incidence of false carotid aneurysm as a complication of endarterectomy is only 0.3%. Usually infection is the main cause. It is therefore surprising that closure with a synthetic patch-graft is not a predisposing factor in the development of false carotid aneurysms, neither according to the literature nor in our own very limited experience with this complication.