Pseudoaneurysm of the Lingual Artery in a Patient With Facial Trauma From Gunshot Wounds

A pseudoaneurysm is an abnormal dilatation within the wall of a blood vessel due to the formation of a hematoma in the vessel wall after vessel injury. Because of the protective nature of the facial skeleton and the deep location of the lingual artery, the lingual artery pseudoaneurysm is rare. The authors report a case of a 20-year-old male who suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including to the mouth, presenting with immediate life-threatening injuries. On hospital day 1, otolaryngology performed debridement of the mandible, retrieval and removal of bullet fragments, intermaxillary fixation, external fixation of the mandible, intra-oral laceration repair, repair of tongue laceration, and tracheotomy revision. On postoperative day 15, the otolaryngology service was called for the abrupt onset of major oral cavity bleeding. computed tomography-angiogram detected a pseudoaneurysm of the lingual artery and was successfully treated with endovascular coil embolization.