Replacement of the left common iliac vein with a custom-made bovine pericardium tubular graft

To date, venous reconstruction has not been as successful as arterial reconstruction. Prosthetic materials used as venous substitutes produce much lower patency rates with a higher incidence of early thrombosis than those used as arterial substitutes. We describe the case of a 38-year-old obese woman in whom we encountered an unexpected tear of the common iliac vein intraoperatively, during an anterior approach to the lumbar spine. Because of limited options, we replaced the vein with an interposition tubulargraft that was custom-made from bovine pericardium. Two years later, the patient remained asymptomatic with a patent graft. To our knowledge, there has been no other reported case in the world medical literature of replacement of medium-sized veins by this technique.