Above-knee polytetrafluoroethylene femoropopliteal bypass graft: Is it a reasonable alternative to the below-knee reversed autogenous vein graft?

To determine whether an above-knee polytetrafluoroethylene (AK-PTFE) femoropopliteal bypass graft might be an acceptable alternative to a below-knee reversed autogenous saphenous vein (BK-ASV) bypass graft, we compared 51 AK-PTFE grafts to 39 concurrently performed BK-ASV grafts. All patients were staged by preoperative noninvasive vascular laboratory criteria into limiting claudication or limb salvage groups and by intraoperative arteriography according to degree of runoff. There was no significant difference in the primary graft patency at 36 months between the AK-PTFE group (63%) and the BK-ASV group (72%). Secondary graft patency among the AK-PTFE group was improved by minor distal graft revision to 88% at 36 months. The preoperative noninvasive hemodynamic evaluation status was an influential factor; the graft patency rate among the patients with limiting claudication was superior to that among the limb salvage group, but the degree of runoff as shown by intraoperative angiography did not appear to have an effect on cumulative patency. Resting Doppler ankle/brachial artery pressure ratios did not predict subsequent occlusion of AK-PTFE grafts. Atherosclerosis is a progressive and systemic disease that frequently involves both the coronary and tibial vessels. AK-PTFE spares autogenous saphenous vein so that it can be reserved for use in coronary artery bypass or in subsequent treatment of more distal tibial vessel disease.