Surgical repair of visceral artery occlusions in Takayasu's disease

We describe the surgical management of six patients with occlusive disease of the visceral arteries caused by Takayasu's arteritis. All patients suffered from renovascular hypertension and, in addition, three of the patients also had symptoms of mesenteric angina. Surgical repair is recommended in the "burn-out" phase of the disease when further progression of the disease is unlikely. Revascularization of the kidneys was by autotransplantation to the iliac vessels. Mesenteric or celiac artery inflow was provided by an extra-anatomic vein bypass graft from the iliac artery. In all cases distal disease-free vessels were available for reconstructive surgery.