Ruptured anastomotic pseudoaneurysms after prosthetic vascular graft bypass procedures.

Pseudoaneurysms of prosthetic vascular grafts are a well-recognized phenomenon. In the past year we treated four patients with ruptured pseudoaneurysms, each of whom originally underwent surgery after March 1981. The main etiological factors were infection and mismatching between the physical characteristics of the prosthetic graft and the host artery. Once this diagnosis is suspected, pseudoaneurysms should be treated as an emergency. They should be resected, a new extraanatomical bypass constructed, and the wound left open.