Esophageal stent erosion into the common carotid artery

A pseudoaneurysm of the common carotid artery was found with computed tomography in a 62-year-old woman with an esophageal stent that had eroded through her skin. The pseudoaneurysm was treated with a self-expanding nitinol stent; after massive hemoptysis, an endograft was placed on the pseudoaneurysm. The patient then underwent ligation of the left common carotid artery, proximal to the carotid bulb, and excision of the endograft and previously placed coils. The esophageal stent wires were so that they could no longer impinge the common carotid artery.