Simultaneous Ipsilateral Infrainguinal Angioplasty and Bypass Procedures

Abstract

We studied the efficacy of surgeon-performed combined ipsilateral endovascular and open arterial concomitant reconstruction at the infrainguinal level. It was a retrospective analytic study. The study included 15 patients (9 men, 6 women) who underwent 15 combined procedures between January 2000 and January 2004. They were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of nine patients with an inflow angioplasty. The second group included six patients with an outflow angioplasty. Indications for arterial reconstruction were claudication (one patient), ischemic rest pain (three patients), and gangrene (eleven patients). Immediate technical success of the combined procedures was 100%. In the first group, one patient died owing to a myocardial infarction, ischemic lesions healed in eight patients, one patient required revision of the graft and three reconstructions occluded, with one amputation of the affected limb. In the second group, one patient died owing to stoke, one patient needed a graft revision and one underwent a limb amputation. The cumulative limb salvage at 42 months was 85%. Our results suggest that simultaneous ipsilateral infrainguinal angioplasty and bypass procedures could be performed with good results. Inflow and outfow angioplasty allow using a shorter single graft segment. Outflow angioplasty ameliorates the bypass flow and accelerates the healing of ischemic lesions. The restenosis rate of the inflow angioplasty at the femoral level remains low.