The role of peripheral vascular resistance in determining the infrainguinal arterial reconstruction patency.

Objective: To find if there is any correlation between the peripheral vascular resistance, its change following an intragraft prostaglandin infusion and the infrainguinal reconstruction patency.

Patients And Methods: Ninety-seven patients with infrainguinal reconstructions were included in the study: in 48 patients they were compromised (32 with graft thrombosis and 16 with stenosis of the distal anastomoses); 49 patients had their bypasses patent for no less than 12 months. Intraoperative flowmetry was performed on the target artery under the distal anastomosis, after declamping, and after a five-minute intragraft prostaglandin infusion.