Treatment of arterial lesions after radiation therapy

Of 1,724 patients who underwent peripheral vascular operation, 12 (0.7 per cent) underwent radiation therapy of the areas including the relevant arteries one and one-half to 28 years (a mean of 15 years) previously; one patient had carcinoma of the breast, three had tumors of the neck and eight patients had malignant gynecologic disease. One patient with an occluded carotid artery was not actively treated, two underwent percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and the remaining patients underwent different types of vascular reconstructions. These patients frequently have other radiation lesions as well with involvement of the skin, bladder or intestine, which may make them problematic from a surgical point of view. Extra-anatomic reconstructions or percutaneous transluminal angioplasty can be recommended. One patient died of malignant disease three years after arterial operation. Otherwise, the results of follow-up study for these patients did not differ from other patients who underwent arterial reconstruction.