The preferential use of the external iliac artery as an inflow source for redo femoropopliteal and infrapopliteal bypass.

PURPOSE: It is believed that secondary operations involving the inguinal region are associated with a significant morbidity that includes infection, lymphatic obstruction, lymphorrhea, and neurovascular injury. To prevent these potentially important complications we have avoided a redo groin incision in 38 patients with severely symptomatic disease who had primary (23 cases) or secondary (15 cases) femoropopliteal bypass thrombosis during the past 3 years.

METHODS

All patients were candidates for prosthetic bypasses because of lack of a suitable vein. Twenty-nine external iliac-to-popliteal bypasses (18 above-knee; 11 below-knee) and nine external iliac-to-infrapopliteal bypasses (five anterior tibial; two posterior tibial; two peroneal) were performed with 6 mm polytetrafluoroethylene ringed grafts in 38 patients. Adjunctive distal arteriovenous fistulas were constructed in all infrapopliteal bypasses. The external iliac artery was exposed via a retroperitoneal approach. The second incision was placed just below the scarred area and deepened to the level of the medial border of the sartorius muscle. A tunnel that connected both incisions was easily created by blunt dissection alongside the anterolateral border of the femoral artery.

RESULTS

Four popliteal bypasses occluded at 4, 6, 10, and 28 months after operation. The remaining 25 grafts are patent (mean 14 months). Three of the infrapopliteal bypasses occluded at 0, 2, and 3 months after operation. The remaining six grafts are patent with follow-up from 4 to 18 months (mean 12 months). Only one patient had a superficial wound infection at the below-knee popliteal incision, which healed with local treatment. All other patients had an uneventful postoperative course.

CONCLUSIONS

Thus we believe this approach to be simple, safe, and durable and should be used preferentially to avoid the difficult and hazardous dissection of a previously operated groin.