Management of infected grafts and mycotic aneurysms of the aorta using cryopreserved homografts.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy of the treatment of infected prosthetic grafts and mycotic aneurysms of the aorta with cryopreserved homografts.


METHODS
Between April 1994 and May 2002, 15 cryopreserved aortic homografts were used in 13 patients in the thoracic and abdominal aortic position with supplementary omental or pectoral muscle wrapping for infected grafts (n=11), and mycotic aneurysms (n=2) (mean age: 57.5).


RESULTS
One patient died due to multiorgan failure and the other due to postoperative cerebral hemorrhage (15.38%). Another patient died four months after the operation due to septic arthritis, and coronary heart disease. Ten patients are still alive without evidence of infection (76.92%) during a follow up of 44+/-23.03 (range 4-71) months.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of cryopreserved homografts with supplementary omentum and/or muscle flap coverage, assures an anatomical reconstruction with good results in this difficult group of patients.
Arbatli
Harun
H
Department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery OLV Hospital, Moorselbaan 164, 9300 Aalst, Belgium.
DeGeest
Raphaël
R
Demirsoy
Ergun
E
Wellens
Francis
F
Degrieck
Ivan
I
VanPraet
Frank
F
Korkut
Ali Kubilay
AK
Vanermen
Hugo
H
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000784:Aortic Dissection / Q000601:surgery; D000785:Aneurysm, Infected / Q000601:surgery*; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000601:surgery*; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D001019:Aortic Rupture / Q000601:surgery; D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000379:methods*; D015925:Cryopreservation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000601:surgery*; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous