Arterial reconstruction for upper limb ischaemia: an alternative technique.

Reconstructive arterial surgery for upper limb ischaemia has been performed since the early 1950s. The commonest site of occlusion is in the subclavian artery for which the widely preferred surgical reconstruction is the carotid-subclavian bypass graft. We present a series of eight cases of subclavian artery occlusion for which direct subclavian to carotid anastomosis was performed yielding results comparable with carotid-subclavian bypass.