title: A decade of oral anticoagulant treatment to maintain autologous vein grafts for femoropopliteal atherosclerosis.
abstract: To determine whether long-term oral anticoagulant treatment was effective in improving graft performance and preventing major amputation following vein bypass surgery for femoropopliteal atherosclerosis, a clinical trial was conducted in one single center and continued during 10 years. After 130 patients had electively received a femoropopliteal vein graft, they were randomly assigned to a therapy group (treatment with phenprocoumon [n = 66]) or to a control group (n = 64) that remained without any anticoagulant treatment. Primary end points of the study were graft reocclusion and limb loss. The median durations of primary patency and limb salvage were significantly longer for treated patients than that for controls. In addition, survival in the therapy group was longer. Following autologous vein bypass surgery in the treated group, the results were superior in terms of graft patency, limb salvage, and survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery I, University of Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kretschmer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Herbst
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Prager
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sautner
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wenzl
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Berlakovich
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zekert
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marosi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schemper
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000368:Aged; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000601:surgery*; D001780:Blood Coagulation Tests; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005734:Gangrene / Q000601:surgery; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007383:Intermittent Claudication / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010644:Phenprocoumon / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011150:Popliteal Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D011674:Pulse; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000637:transplantation*; D015996:Survival Rate; D013607:Tablets; D014654:Vascular Patency
chemical_list: D013607:Tablets; D010644:Phenprocoumon