Objectives: [corrected] to report the results of primary and secondary prosthetic above-knee femoropopliteal bypass for intermittent claudication.
Design: a retrospective study in a University hospital.
Patients: one hundred and twelve operations performed in 103 patients (26 women) between January 1990 and June 1997.
Methods: a comparison of primary assisted patency was made between Dacron and PTFE, between men and women and between operations performed early and late in the study period. Patency of secondary procedures was also studied.
Results: there were no operative deaths. The 5-year survival rate was 81% and equal to that of a demographically matched population. The primary assisted graft patency was 58% after two years. Women had a significantly better graft patency than men (79% vs. 49%). The type of graft and the date of the operation did not influence the outcome. Forty of the 55 occluded grafts were subjected to a redo procedure with a 1-year patency of 29%.
Conclusions: the results after prosthetic above-knee femoropopliteal bypass procedures are disappointing, and a controversy persists as to whether this operation should be performed for intermittent claudication. The results of secondary procedures are even worse, and perhaps should only be considered in patients suffering critical ischaemia.
Copyright 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.