Ruptured common femoral vein pseudoaneurysm from a common femoral arteriovenous fistula presenting as lower extremity steal after radiofrequency ablation of the great saphenous vein.

Radiofrequency ablation of the superficial venous systems has become one of the mainstays of minimally invasive approaches to varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency. These procedures have high rates of success with scarce complications. This case report highlights a patient with a common femoral arteriovenous fistula presenting with lower extremity steal after radiofrequency ablation treatment of the great saphenous vein.

The relative importance of graft surveillance and warfarin therapy in infrainguinal prosthetic bypass failure.

Background: We sought to describe modes of failure and associated limb loss after infrainguinal polytetrafluoroethylene bypass grafting in patients lacking a saphenous venous conduit and to define specific clinical or hemodynamic factors prognostic for bypass failure.

Methods: We identified 121 patients (mean age, 67 years; 90 men and 31 women) with determinable outcomes (minimum follow-up, 2 months; mean, 17 months) after 130 prosthetic infrainguinal bypasses between 1997 and 2005. Ischemic presentation was rest pain in 52%, tissue loss in 34%, and disabling claudication and/or popliteal aneurysm in 14%, with 24% of patients requiring a redo bypass.