Descending thoracic aorto-bifemoral bypass graft: a safe alternative in the high risk patients.

A fifty-nine year old male presented with disabling intermittent claudication. A Translumbar Aortogram was performed showing ".....total occlusion of the abdominal aorta just distal to the level of the renal arteries". As a direct result of this invasive radiological procedure, he subsequently developed acute pancreatitis and a pancreatic abscess necessitating open surgical drainage. Re-vascularisation of his aortic occlusion was deferred for fifteen months when a Descending Thoracic Aorta Bifemoral (DTAB) bypass was performed--thus avoiding the insertion of foreign, sterile, arterial prosthesis in a previously infect abdominal cavity.