Pathological considerations of reoperative vascular patients

Since vascular disease is always progressive and a perfect vascular prosthesis has yet to be developed, postoperative complications are almost inevitable. In this paper, case histories of those who had to have a second operation or, in other words, re-operated patients, have been examined to ascertain the current problems in vascular surgery. Of 176 vascular reconstructive operations performed between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 1986, 29 re-operations were performed on 19 patients (mean age: 64 years; 15: male). The incidence of late graft failures was 8.4% and, of these, anastomotic aneurysms seemed to be the most serious complication (3.1% incidence rate). Late graft failures included intimal hyperplasia, occurring within two years in five cases, and four cases of progressing atherosclerosis, which appeared three years after the initial operation. In all cases of anastomotic aneurysm, arterial wall failure, possibly combined with the changing of implanted grafts, was considered to be related to the false aneurysmal formation. Knitted Dacron demonstrated susceptibility to atherosclerotic progression, whereas the major fault of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts was the insufficiency of the anastomotic diameter. In conclusion, it was revealed that many factors can provoke late graft failure. Improvement of long-term patency seems to be achieved by a more increased understanding of the pathological meaning of these factors, along with the proper application of medical techniques suited to the causes of vascular obstruction.