[Sexual function and aortoiliac reconstructive surgery]

In this study of 52 patients aged between 32 and 60 years, maintenance or restoration of sexual function during aorto-iliac surgery represented a usually non-priority but certainly desirable objective. Aspects studied were: place of crossed bypass and of endarterectomy-type of aorto-prosthesis anastomosis: end-to-end or end-to-side - routine or non-routine reimplantation of a hypogastric artery. Results in this series showed a lack of advantage from the sexual point of view for end-to-side over end-to-end surgery; hypogastric reimplantation offers a supplementary guarantee of efficacy but should not be performed routinely; crossed bypass operations are certainly interesting solutions in young patients. Endarterectomy should not be rejected as a matter of principle but with respect to sexual function its indications should be reserved for cases not requiring extensive dissection of arterial axes.