Etiology and management of aorto-femoral bypass graft failure

Over a nine-year period 1973 to 1982, 364 aorto-bifemoral bypass grafts were inserted for aorto-iliac occlusive disease and 45 graft failures were encountered. Twelve patients developed acute graft occlusion, occurring less than 30 days postoperatively (Group I). These failures were almost all due to technical problems, the most common cause was elevation of an intimal flap following local endarterectomy. Five patients (Group II) developed recurrent symptoms without actual thrombosis or occlusion of the graft, but were associated with neointimal hyperplasia at the distal anastomosis and evidence of distal atherosclerosis. Twenty-eight patients were late failures (Group III). These patients thrombosed their grafts more than 30 days postoperatively. Four patients thrombosed both limbs of the graft at separate intervals. Nineteen patients were found to have progressive atherosclerosis affecting their run-off vessels. Six patients were found to have stenosis limited to the distal anastomosis. False aneurysm, kinking of the graft, and proximal suture line stenosis were felt to be determining factors in 3 other incidences of graft failure. The most common treatment in Group I was thrombectomy and securing of the raised intimal flap. The patients in Group II were treated with local endarterectomy and patch angioplasty. Of the patients in Group III, the most common inflow procedure was thrombectomy, carried out in 17 cases. In Group III, 13 of 28 patients underwent profundaplasty to improve outflow. The importance of pre and postoperative angiography in defining the etiology of graft failure is stressed. It is important to rule out problems with the proximal anastomosis. Once inflow has been established, angiography should ensure that an adequate outflow procedure has been performed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)