[Blood vessel reconstruction infections: a practical view]

Infection represents a serious complication in vascular surgery. The average of 2-3% of reconstructions are involved. The article offers a review of current diagnosis and treatment of infection after vascular reconstruction. Emphasis is put on early diagnosis and its impact on prognosis of patients. We summarize the practical potential of surgical treatment. The situation is illustrated by our results from the years 2004-2006. During the last 3 years 19 patients were operated on for infection of the arterial reconstruction (15 ways aorto-femoral and 4 ways femoro-popliteal bypass). The main agent was Staphylococcus aureus (9 patients, i.e. 47.4%). In most cases explantation of the whole infected reconstruction was performed (13 patients). The early mortality rate is 26.3%. Amputation was necessary in 6 patients (i.e. 31.5%). Our results are fully comparable to those from other centres of vascular surgery.