[Infected vascular prostheses]

Szilagyi's statement: 'The management of cases with infected arterial implants proves to be a task of grave and sometimes insurmountable difficulty' has kept its validity until today. In spite of restrictive patient selection, perfect surgical skill and perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis, infection of vascular grafts still do occur. Diagnosis has to be established without delay, and treatment of such often fatal infections is an aggressive surgical one.