title: Late occlusion of aorto-bifemoral grafts. Causes and management.
abstract: Late occlusion occurred in 52 limbs of 37 bifurcated aorto-femoral grafts (37 patients). These were analysed to determine causal factors and the efficacy of various surgical techniques of repair. There were two principle causes: intimal hyperplasia (n = 19) and progressive atherosclerosis (n = 18), and then miscellaneous causes (n = 15). Surgical techniques included: repair of inflow by thrombectomy (n = 30), new aorto-femoral graft (n = 6), cross-over femoro-femoral (n = 3), and axillo-bifemoral graft (n = 2); repair of out-flow by profundoplasty (n = 18), addition of a new length of graft (n = 10), and femoro-popliteal bypass (n = 13). There were no immediate post-operative deaths but four rethromboses (7.6%) occurred and there were five amputations (9.6%). During the follow-up period (mean 19 months), four patients died (11%), 5 limbs reoccluded (9.4%), and two were amputated (4.2%). Patency rate was 90% for thrombectomy and 83% for new aorto-bifemoral graft. It was 86% for repair of the profunda femoris artery and 77% for femoro-popliteal bypass. Although no statistical analysis can be applied on this small number of patients, the present study suggests that: intimal hyperplasia is a frequent and probably under-estimated cause of late thrombosis; whenever feasible thrombectomy and profundoplasty are the most simple and effective procedure of repair.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001011:Aorta / Q000601:surgery*; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000473:pathology; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D005260:Female; D005263:Femoral Artery / Q000601:surgery*; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006083:Graft Occlusion, Vascular / Q000209:etiology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D014654:Vascular Patency
chemical_list: D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene