Biplane translumbar aortography for evaluation of peripheral vascular disease.

Complete evaluation of the aortoiliac femoropopliteal system is necessary for the proper evaluation of lower extremity peripheal vascular ischemic disease. We have used a modified infrarenal translumbar approach since it is both safely and rapidly performed. An analysis of 212 consecutive cases (the last 182 with translumbar technic) revealed that 72 per cent of patients had significant atherosclerotic involvement of the aorta or one or more common or external iliac arteries, 43 per cent had significant bilateral involvement, and it was judged that retrograde femoral catheterization would have been difficult or impossible in 38 per cent. Biplane aortoiliac evaluation was added in our last seventy-nine studies. This provided additional diagnostic help in thirty-six of these cases and revealed an abnormality not otherwise visible in six of these patients. There were no serious complications in this series.