[Septic complications in vascular surgery: a review (author's transl)]

The importance of vascular infection is determined by localization and extension, by the type of graft, by the type of bacteria and by subsequent complications. Prophylactic measures are: strict selection of patients (in obesity, diabetes), unyielding attention to hygiene and asepsis in the operating theater, use of adhesive plastic skin coverings, instrument preparation, short operation time, meticulous blood coagulation, intraoperative control of the hemodynamic result and adequate wound drainage. Antibiotics can be given preoperatively; their usefulness in the prevention of wound infection is not generally accepted. The use of a prosthesis in the perforating vascular trauma should be avoided; extra-anatomic reconstruction may be performed as the primary procedure. When the graft is removed and extra-anatomic reconstruction performed definitive healing cannot always be expected.