Post-traumatic preauricular pulsatile swelling in a patient on oral anticoagulation therapy

Abstract

The differential diagnoses for preauricular swellings include dermoid cyst, lymph nodes, lipoma, nerve sheath tumours, parotid swelling, mastoiditis, vascular malformations and arterio-venous fistulas aneurysms/pseudoaneurysms. Superficial temporal artery pseudoaneurysm(s) (STAPA) are rare (1% of all aneurysms) vascular complications, which occur following a blunt injury of the head or iatrogenic causes. The use of anticoagulation therapy increases the risk of pseudoaneurysm formation. We present a case of traumatic STAPA while on oral anticoagulation. He was treated with surgical exploration, STAPA excision with ligation of the vessel. He had an uneventful recovery with a good functional and cosmetic outcome at 1 year.