Mulaudzi, Thanyani VictorSikhosana, Mbokeleng2012-01-232012-01-232011-11Mulaudzi, T & Sikhosana, M 2011, 'Arterio-venous fistula following a lumbar disc surgery', Indian Journal of Orthopaedics, 45.6 (2011): 563. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.0019-5413 (print)1998-3727 (online)http://hdl.handle.net/2263/17872Vascular complications during posterior lumbar disc surgery are rare and its presentation with varicose veins is even rarer. A 23 year-old male patient presented with large varicose veins in right lower limb. He underwent a posterior lumbar spine discectomy surgery. He noticed mild swelling of the distal third right lower limb 3 months after index surgery and reported 6 months later when he developed varicose veins. Duplex Doppler confirmed varicose veins of the long saphenous vein and its tributaries with a patent deep venous system. A digital subtraction angiogram demonstrated a large right common iliac artery (CIA) false aneurysm with an arteriovenous fistula between right common iliac vessels. He had a right CIA covered stent insertion with good results. Varicose veins were later managed with sapheno-femoral junction ligation and a below knee long saphenous vein stripping. At six month follow-up the lower limb swelling had completely recovered and duplex ultrasound did not show any recurrence of varicose veins.enMedknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Arterio-venous fistulaLumbar disc surgeryBlood-vessels -- DiseasesVaricose veinsArticle