Femoropopliteal bypass using polytetrafluoroethylene.

Reinforced expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was used as a femoropopliteal bypass graft in 31 patients (37 operations). The indications were intermittent claudication (13 operations), severe ischaemia with rest pain or gangrene (20 operations), and prophylactic treatment of popliteal aneurysms (4 operations). The one-year accumulative patency rates were 75% for patients with intermittent claudication and 20% for patients with severe ischaemia. In three patients with claudication, graft thrombosis led to amputation in spite of attempted graft thrombectomy. These results compare unfavourably with our experience using autogenous vein, in which the one-year accumulative patency rates were 80% for claudication and 70% for severe ischaemia, and in which failure of the bypass graft for claudication rarely made the patient worse.