Mean flow measurements in aortofemoral arterial reconstructions

Eighty-seven limbs in 48 patients have been studied with an electromagnetic flow meter at the time of arterial reconstruction designed to restore blood flow from the aorta to the femoral artery system. The mean overall flow was 339 ml per minute. Blood flow in aneurysmal disease was significantly higher than that recorded in obstructive disease. Blood flow in arteries running into a fully patent femoral system was significantly higher than in those that ran only into the profunda. Age, sex, type of surgery and size of graft had no influence on the flow achieved. Reconstructions for rest pain or advanced trophic change produced flows of the same magnitude as reconstructions for intermittent claudication. The patient's weight correlated significantly with the intraoperative flow. The mean flow in the limbs of 28 patients in whom an accurate preoperative weight was known was 2-56 ml/100 gm/minute, taking the hind limb and hemi-pelvis as 25% of the body weight. This is an acceptably "normal" value. A flow of less than 100 ml per minute in an aortoiliac reconstruction was found to be not likely to result in long-term patency.