• B Chatelain, C Meyer, F Vitte, and B Ricbourg.
• Service de chirurgie maxillofaciale et stomatologie, CHRU de Besançon, boulevard Fleming, 25030 Besançon cedex, France. bchatelain@chu-besancon.fr
• Rev Stomatol Chir Maxillofac. 2009 Nov 1; 110 (5): 299-302.

IntroductionFalse aneurysms of the superficial temporal artery (STA) are rare and usually occur after a direct trauma to one of its branches. It is characterized by the local rupture of the artery wall. The diagnosis is made by clinical history and clinical examination. The treatment is surgery.Case ReportTwo patients, a 20-year-old man and an 82-year-old man, were referred with a pulsatile mass respectively in the temporal and the frontal area having evolved for several weeks. The diagnosis was made on clinical history (history of trauma was an important clue) and clinical examination (compression of the proximal STA should reduce pulsation) and confirmed by ultrasonography. The treatment was surgical, the STA was ligated proximally and distally and the pseudoaneurysm was resected successfully.DiscussionFalse aneurysms can be differentiated from true aneurysms by a rupture in the arterial wall. A thorough clinical history must screen for the initial trauma often gone unnoticed. The aim of clinical and paraclinical examination is to eliminate other causes of pulsatile tumors that can be found in this area (true aneurysms of the STA or of the meningeal artery).

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