Hybrid Operations in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease.

In this seminar, I would like to discuss the recent hybrid operations in patients with peripheral arterial diseases. Hybrid is generally defined as combinations of different types of things. In the surgical community, it is loosely defined as therapy combining open surgery (OS) and endovascular therapy (EVT). In practice, combination surgery of diseased inflow vessels by EVT and outflow vessels by OS is a typical example, namely, the combination therapy of thromboendarterectomy (TEA) for common femoral artery and EVT (PTA and stenting) for iliac artery in patients with PAD (ilio-femoral lesions). Also, there is the potential of various combinations of OS and EVT for complex lesions. Unfortunately, we do not have specific guidelines for hybrid therapy of PAD, but in clinical practices, justified decision-making for surgical indication is strictly required. I emphasize that the cardiovascular surgeon (or vascular specialist) must have the ability of decision-making for suitable combination therapy of OS and EVT which adheres to existing specific guidelines. (This is a translation of Jpn J Vasc Surg 2017; 26: 275-283.).