Injuries of large vessels in high stage neuroblastoma surgery. A case report.

Complete resection of the primary lesion in stage III neuroblastoma improves survival Neuroblastoma has a tendency towards surrounding and infiltrating the large vessels, leading to injuries during tumor resection. We operated on a stage III neuroblastoma, which resulted in the right and left common iliac artery and vein damage. The right common iliac artery and, veins were repaired by end to end anastomosis. There was a long gap between the two ends of the left common iliac artery and it was repaired using a mesenteric vein (marginal vein of the colon) graft. Digital subtraction angiography performed 6 months after the operation did not reveal any stenosis or aneurysmatic changes in the anastomoses. We conclude that short segments of large vessels may be sacrificed during the resection of neuroblastomas invading the vessel wall, and the resulting defects may be repaired by end to end anastomosis, or even by substituting mesenteric vein grafts, for the purpose of total or near total removal