Major vascular surgery in a patient with sickle cell disease

We report a patient with homozygous sickle cell disease who underwent femoropopliteal bypass for claudication on walking 10m. Isotope studies showed a blood flow in his left femoral artery of only 0.808 ml. 100ml.min-1. The potential problems of sickle cell disease combined with peripheral vascular disease were probably reduced in this patient because he had an increased fetal haemoglobin level of 13%. Despite the femoral artery being clamped for 100 min, no sickling crisis occurred.