Aortofemoral bypass and the role of concomitant femorodistal reconstruction.

A consecutive series of 200 patients having aortofemoral bypass grafts were studied in order to determine the effect of femoropopliteal occlusive disease on the results and the role of concomitant femorodistal bypass. Bifurcated aortic grafts were used in 177 patients and unilateral aortofemoral grafts in 23 giving 377 limbs for study. Of the 377 limbs, 184 (49 per cent) had minimal femoropopliteal disease (Group 1), 24 (6.4 per cent) had a femoropopliteal stenosis (Group 2) and 169 (44.6 per cent) had complete femoropopliteal occlusion (Group 3). In Group 3 aortofemoral bypass was carried out alone in 106 cases (Group 3a): in the other 63 cases femorodistal bypass was carried out at the same time as aortoiliac reconstruction (Group 3b). The cumulative patency at 5 years for all aortofemoral grafts together was 91 per cent. However, that for grafts in Group 3a was only 65 per cent compared with 98 per cent for Groups 1 and 3b and 94 per cent for Group 2. The cumulative patency rate for grafts in Group 3a was significantly lower than for all other groups (P less than 0.001). The operative mortality for those patients who had concomitant aortofemoral and femorodistal grafts (Group 3b) did not differ significantly from that of any of the other groups (P greater than 0.1). Of the cases in Group 3a, 21 (26 per cent) required femoropopliteal reconstruction at a later date. The results indicate that in the presence of combined aortoiliac and femoropopliteal occlusive disease concomitant reconstruction of both arterial segments yields significantly better results than aortoiliac bypass alone.