Spontaneous external rupture of femoral pseudoaneurysm: fatal hemorrhage related to drug abuse

Drug abuse can lead to many life-threatening complications, the most frequent of which are overdoses and infections.We report here the case of a 38-year-old long-term drug abuser found dead in a near-sitting position on his bed at home, by his roommate. A pillow imbued with blood was recovered on his right groin region. At autopsy, we observed a ruptured pseudoaneurysm (false aneurysm) of the right common femoral artery. No obvious signs of infection were present. This article focuses the attention of the reader on an unusual complication of parenteral drug abuse with a rare but potentially lethal outcome; to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a fatal hemorrhage from a ruptured arterial femoral pseudoaneurysm as a complication of drug injection in the forensic literature.