Polytetrafluoroethylene bifurcation prosthesis for the treatment of aortoiliac atherosclerotic occlusive disease: A 5-year clinical trial

During the period of 1984-1986, the authors have implanted 13 polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) bifurcation grafts for the treatment of aortoiliac occlusive disease. The patients were 12 men and 1 woman, their mean age being 60.05 ± 6.3 years. The indications for aortoiliac reconstruction were limiting claudication in 6 patients and rest pain in 7 patients. Follow-up lasted forty-six ± seven months and included physical examination, measurement of the ankle-brachial pressure index, and ultrasonography. Arteriography was performed exclusively in sympatomatic patients. No operative deaths or major complications were recorded. Graft limb occlusion occurred in 2 patients, eight and twenty-two months after surgery, respectively. The five-year patency rate was 85%. During follow-up, there was no evidence of graft infection, kinking, stenosis, or dilatation. Neither perigraft seroma nor anastomotic aneurysm developed.