[Treatment of edema of the lower extremities after femoro-popliteal shunting].

After conducting 367 reconstructive operations for atherosclerotic lesions of arteries below the inguinal ligament the authors encountered postrevascularization edema of the limb in 57 patients. They believe that the underlying factors of this edema are microhemorheological disorders impairing drainage of blood through the postcapillary venules in which stasis of the cell elements develops. The authors determined these disorders according to the arteriovenous difference in blood viscosity in the involved limb. A negative difference is indicative of marked disorders in the microcirculatory channel. Local hemorheology was studied in 17 of 57 patients, negative arteriovenous difference in blood viscosity was found in 11 of them. Administration of hemocorrectors for removal of the postrevascularization edema was effective in 31 patients. Treatment proved ineffective in remaining patients, thrombosis of the shunt or desobliterated area of the artery occurred in all of them within 12 months after the operation.