[True and false radiation arteritis].

Radiation therapy seldom induces large arteries injuries. When it occurs, their consequences are serious and their treatment is difficult. In six patients, arterial disease followed radiotherapy with cutaneous and subcutaneous fibrosis. Three were located on the carotid arteries and three in the aorto-iliac vessels. In four cases, radiation was the main causal factor; in one case it was one of the contributive factors; in the last case it was nothing else than an association. In all cases, surgical treatment was difficult because the cutaneous, subcutaneous and periarterial fibrosis. Radiation effects induced risks of cutaneous unhealing, anastomotic rupture and arterial infection. The carotid arterial stenosis were cured in one patient by two gore-tex bypass from the aorta to the carotid arteries and in the two others by three venous bypass from the common carotid arteries to the internal carotid arteries. The aorto-iliac obliterations were treated by different methods: one by-pass from the thoracic aorta to the deep femoral arteries, one aorto-bifemoral bifurcation and one medical treatment in a patient with poor condition. All patients have good results several years after treatment.