Is there a place for external grafting of arterial aneurysms in selected patients?

External grafting of aortic and iliac artery aneurysms has been accomplished in 33 highly selected poor risk patients over a period of eight years. This experience demonstrated that external grafting of aneurysms is a technically demanding operative procedure which is accompanied by significant early and late morbidity. The technique does effectively reduce the occurrence rate of late rupture of aneurysms, however, at least for the period of observation of this study. Thus, while external grafting certainly is not generally applicable, the procedure may be used to advantage in highly selected situations, possibly including: 1. Long segment aneurysms of the thoracic or thoraco-abdominal aorta. 2. Aneurysms involving the renal arteries in poor risk patients. 3. As reinforcement for dilated arterial segments adjacent to sites of vascular anastomosis.