Leriche Syndrome

• Atheromatous occlusion of the distal abdominal aorta at the bifurcation into the common iliac arteries
• Triad of symptoms includes
• Claudication in the legs or buttocks
• Absent or diminished femoral pulses
• Erectile dysfunction
• Usually affects younger males ages 30-40
• Risk factors include
• Cigarette smoking
• Hypercholesterolemia
• Less likely to have associated diabetes
• Because development of the disease is slow and collaterals develop, limb-threatening ischemic disease does not tend to occur
• Imaging can be done with non-invasive methods such as MRI and CT angiography or through arterial duplex scanning
• Treatment is aortoiliac bypass 

 
Leriche Syndrome. Coronal reconstruction from a contrast-enhanced abdominal CT scan shows complete occlusion of the infrarenal aorta (red arrow) by thrombus that extends into both common iliac arteries (yellow arrows). The white arrow points to calcification in the wall of the vessel.