Background:
Digital subtraction angiography (DSA) is considered the gold standard for the evaluation of head and neck vascular abnormalities. It serves as a useful diagnostic and, in many cases, therapeutic tool for treatment of acute head and neck bleeding.
Case description:
We report the case of a patient who presented with life threatening, uncontrollable epistaxis several weeks after resection of a large recurrent chondrosarcoma of the nasal cavity and anterior skull base. A DSA study, with an adjunctive C-arm computed tomography (CT) (Dyna CT), was ultimately helpful in revealing and precisely localizing a large anterior ethmoidal artery pseudoaneurysm adjacent to the tumor resection cavity.
Conclusion:
This additional information helped define the arterial anatomy in postoperative region, allowed precise localization and direct ligation of the pseudoaneurysm to resolve the bleeding with a favorable patient outcome.