[Remote results of ultrasonic endarterectomy].

The authors carried out a comparative retrospective study of the efficacy of ultrasonic endarterectomy used for the restoration of the blood flow in patients diagnosed with atherosclerotic lesions of the femoral artery. The long-term outcomes of the operation (with the duration of the follow-up period amounting to 16 years) were analysed in a total of 535 patients. Based on the variety of different types of the operations performed, the patients were subdivided into three groups: Group I consisted of 208 subjects having undergone ultrasound-mediated endarterectomy, Group II comprised 244 patients having endured femoropopliteal bypass grafting with the reversed autovein above the knee joint; and Group III was composed of 83 patients following mechanical endarterectomy. The groups of the patients analysed were matched by sex, age, duration of the disease, the prevalence rate of concomitant diseases, and the degree of chronic ischaemia of the extremity involved. The criteria for assessment of the remote outcomes were the indices of the patency of the reconstructed vessels and limb salvage. It was determined that ultrasonic endarterectomy was accompanied and followed by better results of the patency as compared with mechanical endarterectomy, being however inferior to the operation of the femoropophteai bypass grafting by the criteria applied. No differences in the parameters of limb salvage after various modalities of the restoration of the blood flow were observed.