We report the case of a 40-year-old man with a recurrent popliteal vein aneurysm diagnosed 2 years after initial lateral aneurysmectomy. Definitive management consisted of popliteal vein aneurysm resection and reconstruction with an interposition spiral vein graft. Our case suggests that aneurysm vein resection and interposition vein graft should be the preferred surgical option. Also, patients treated may benefit from longer follow-up in light of the potential morbidity from recurrence if undetected.

The most common, and sometimes devastating, first sign of a popliteal vein aneurysm (PVA) is a pulmonary embolus. Medical therapy has been shown to have a high failure rate in preventing thromboembolic complications of PVA. Therefore, surgical resection is the mainstay of therapy. This article describes a case of recurrent popliteal vein after lateral tangential aneurysmectomy. To our knowledge, recurrence of PVA after lateral tangential aneursymectomy has not been previously reported.