The behaviour of infected human umbilical vein arterial grafts.

Two patients who received Human Umbilical Vein (H.U.V.) femoropopliteal by-passes to revascularize ischemic limbs, and later underwent emergency operations for acute graft thrombosis, developed H.U.V. graft sepsis. The patients presented with haemorrhage, fever, pain and a growing mass at the site of the previous emergency procedure, one and five months later. An attempt at limited H.U.V. segment substitution (case 1) failed. We then performed successful complete graft excisions combined with extra-anatomical H.U.V. revascularization. At present both patients are asymptomatic with well-functioning H.U.V. grafts, 7 and 13 months later. In both cases Light and Scanning Electron Microscopic studies were performed. Findings of these studies have been analyzed.