High occlusion of the abdominal aorta

In the period 1969-1976 27 patients have been operated for high occlusion of the abdominal aorta. The patients had a high frequency of concomitant arteriosclerotic involvement of other parts of the cardiovascular system. The over all mortality was 11 per cent, the 3 deaths were all related to simultaneous operation on the renal arteries. The renal arteries were not operated upon in the other 24 cases. The operative morbidity was low and the prognosis is good as there have been no late death, and 83 per cent of the patients are free of recurrence throughout the follow-up period (mean 2.1 years, range 3 months-7 years).