Assessment of late patency of profundaplasty by arteriography

We have reviewed 34 cases of profundaplasty to determine patency rates in arteriographic rather than clinical terms. These patients had required subsequent arteriography for a variety of reasons not always related to their original operation. Clinical improvement following profundaplasty could be due to maturation of the collateral circulation rather than to prolonged patency of the reconstructed segment, but in this series all the profundaplasties were patent except where the external iliac and common femoral arteries supplying the profundaplasty had themselves occluded. These patients with profundaplasty failure showed an adverse pattern of proximal disease. The state of the distal vascular bed did not appear to influence the patency rate of the profundaplasties significantly, although this may affect the outcome for the limb itself.