Management of vascular prosthetic infections: results of long-term follow-up

Area of Science:

• Vascular Surgery
• Infectious Disease
• Reconstructive Surgery

Background:

• Infected vascular prostheses pose significant risks, including limb loss.
• Many prosthetic graft infections are insidious, delaying diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of muscle flap reconstruction for managing culture-positive infected prosthetic grafts in the infrainguinal region.
• To assess long-term outcomes, including graft salvage, limb salvage, and patient survival.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 18 patients with culture-positive infected prosthetic grafts.
• All patients underwent management with muscle flaps for reconstruction.
• Minimum follow-up of 49 months (mean 59 months).

Main Results:

• Successful long-term salvage of infected prosthetic grafts in 16 out of 18 patients.
• No instances of life or limb loss were recorded in the study cohort.
• Muscle flap reconstruction demonstrated high efficacy in limb and graft preservation.

Conclusions:

• Early and aggressive reconstruction using muscle flaps is a viable strategy for infected prosthetic grafts.
• This technique effectively saves the graft, preserves the limb, and improves patient outcomes.
• Muscle flap reconstruction offers a high success rate for managing infrainguinal prosthetic graft infections.