Introduction: Biosynthetic prosthesis has become the trend to carry out arterial reconstruction in infected sites since considered to be resistant to infection. Late graft occlusion is the only complication reported in literature so far. We report a case of biosynthetic graft infection which led to early detachment of the femoral anastomosis of a femoral-popliteal above-knee bypass.
Material: A 76-year-old man developed groin infection 3 months later after performing an ePTFE femoral-popliteal above-knee bypass for critical limb ischemia. He was re-admitted for groin infection involving the vascular structures. Explantation of the existing bypass and its replacement with a biosynthetic graft (omniflow II) was performed. Detachment of the proximal anastomosis occurred 6 days later leading to groin haematoma. Consequently, retroperitoneal access was performed for clamping the external iliac artery so as to control haemorrhage followed by explantation of the biosynthetic graft. An external iliac-popliteal above-knee bypass was tailored in order to save the limb and it was performed using a transobturator approach avoiding the infected site. In both cases bacterial cultures resulted positive for Morganella Morganii. The groin wound was treated separately with negative pressure medication healing definitively within 20 days and after 3-month follow-up the bypass was still patent.
Conclusion: This is the first report of biosynthetic graft infection used for infrainguinal reconstruction leading to haemorrhage due to anastomosis disrupture. Using an extra-anatomical access for providing blood inflow to the leg avoiding the infected site and treating safely the groin wound with VAC therapy revealed to be a valid approach.
Keywords: Biosynthetic material; Graft infection; Graft occlusion; Infrainguinal bypass; Morganella morgani; Negative pressure medication.