Clinical experience with expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (Gore-Tex) grafts for femoropopliteal arterial bypass.

Thirty-seven grafts of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene were implanted in 28 patients in whom autogeneous saphenous vein was not available, either for symptoms of severe claudication or limb salvage. The length of follow-up ranges from 8 to 28 months . The patency rate is 86.9 percent for the patients with severe claudication and 71.4 percent in the limb salvage group; the overall patency rate is 81 percent. We believe that expanded polytetrafluoroethylene is a good prosthetic substitute when autogenous vein is unavailable.