Femoropopliteal bypass for salvage and claudication: a comparison of long-term results.

Seventy-seven femoropopliteal grafts placed for salvage were compared to 51 grafts placed for claudication. Patient profiles of age, preexisting cardiovascular disease, and risk factors were notably similar. Previous vascular procedures were twice as common in the salvage group. The accumulated graft patency in the salvage group of 77% at one month and 58% at two years is compared to 90% and 80% during the same risk intervals in the claudication group. The salvage group sustained 34 complications (44%) and nine deaths (12%), compared to one death (2%) and seven complications (14%) in the claudication group. One half of all grafts placed in diabetic males failed. Nearly half of all early failures were thought to be due to errors of patient selection. Though new technics are making more extremities potentially salvageable, this study suggests that improved patient selection will be necessary to lower high complication rates.