[Management of prosthetic graft infection after lower limb arterial bypasses].
OBJECTIVE
To summarize the experience in management of prosthetic graft infection (PGI) after lower limb arterial bypasses and investigate optimal measures for prevention and treatment.


METHODS
Records of 15 cases of PGI between January 2004 and December 2009 were retrospectively analyzed, including 14 male and 1 female with the average age of 64.8 years (ranged from 40 to 84 years). PGI occurred from 5 d to 59 months (average 6.4 months) after the last reconstructive procedures with symptoms as follow: nonhealing wound with vascular graft exposure in 8 cases, persistent sinus related to vascular graft with purulent secretion in 5 cases and without secretion in 1 case, and ill-incorporated graft with peri-graft fluid in 1 case. Broad-spectrum antibiotics were administrated in all PGI cases. Surgical treatments included local debridement and drainage in 4 cases (one death from postoperative acute myocardial infarction), local debridement and skin flap rotation in one case, complete removal of the occluded infected grafts in 8 cases including major amputation in 3 cases, removal of patent infected graft and extra-anatomic bypass with silver-bonded Dacron vascular graft in 1 case, and partial removal of patent infected graft without reconstruction in 1 case with a re-canalized stent-graft.


RESULTS
Limb salvage was achieved in 9 cases, and 4 cases received major amputation. One case was failed to follow-up and one died of postoperative acute myocardial infarction. Initially 13 patients were followed and 2 died during follow-up (because of colon carcinoma and intracranial hemorrhage respectively). Eleven patients were followed for 1 to 70 months (average 22.3 months) including 8 cases with limb salvage and 3 with major amputation. Accumulative mortality rate, amputation rate, and graft occlusion rate were 20% (3/15), 26.7% (4/15), and 53.3% (8/15) respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
PGI after lower limb arterial bypasses is a devastating complication with high risk of graft occlusion and amputation. Removal of the infected grafts may be mandatory for most cases, but local management for patent infected grafts may be recommendable for selected cases.
Department of Vascular Surgery, Peking University People's Hospital, Beijing 100044, China.
Qing-le
QL
Li
Xiao-Ming
XM
Zhang
Xue-Min
XM
Zhang
Chen-Yang
CY
Shen
Jie
J
Fang
Jing-Jun
JJ
Jiang
Yang
Y
Jiao
Jun-Lai
JL
Zhao
Tao
T
Zhang
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D019917:Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000098:blood supply; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016459:Prosthesis-Related Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies