[[Aneurysm of the abdominal aorta and arteritis of the legs]

Twenty to forty percent of patients with aneurysms of the abdominal aorta also have obliterated arteries of the lower limbs. We analyzed retrospectively a series of 200 patients undergoing elective surgery for aneurysm of the abdominal aorta and compared the results with data in the literature. Obliteration of the lower limb arteries had little influence on the technique usually employed for surgery. Femoro-popliteal bypass was associated with cure of the aneurysm in only 2.5% of the cases. We also performed sympathectomy of the lumbar branches in 30% of the cases because of peripheral arterial lesions. The presence of obliterations did not significantly increase operative mortality. Inversely, post-operative peripheral arterial complications were more frequent in patients with an obliterated artery of the lower limb than in those free of distal disease. Long-term survival was not unfavourably affected by the presence of obliterated arteries, but such patients have a greater risk of arterial lesions of the lower limbs.