Newer prosthetic material compared with autogenous saphenous vein for occlusive arterial disease of the lower extremity.

This article reports our experience with 101 polytetrafluoreoethylene and 102 umbilical vein grafts inserted into the femoropopliteal and femorocrural arteries of 98 and 97 patients, respectively, during the last 5 years. These grafted extremities are compared to 416 saphenous vein grafts placed in similar arteries of 383 patients during the past 18 years. The operations were performed by seven surgeons associated in private practice. During this period of time, all records were collated by our research associate, R. M. Preuninger, Ph.D., and the life-table analyses of the data were computed by S. Mehta of the Gore-Tex Company, using the method of Peto et al.