Comparison of transverse versus longitudinal skin incisions for femoral endarterectomy and patchplasty.

Introduction: Access to the femoral artery for a femoral endarterectomy and patchplasty (CFE) can be undertaken either through transverse (TI) or longitudinal incision (LI). LIs have been shown in previous studies to have higher groin complications though these were undertaken in multiple types of vascular procedures. We looked at wound complications for patients undergoing elective CFE procedures only with or without angioplasty via TI or LI.

Methods: All patients who had undergone CFE were retrospectively analysed from a prospective database. Length of stay, wound complications and readmission rates were recorded. Factors for wound complication were looked at using logistic regression with backward elimination.

Results: 122 CFE procedures were performed (30 TI) over the study period. 92 (76.7%) of patients had a prosthetic patch used, whilst 57 (46.7%) patients underwent an adjunctive endovascular procedure, namely, iliac angioplasty and stenting. Median length of stay was 3 days for both groups. The wound complication rate was 6.7% in the TI group and 22.6% in the LI group. 85.6% of the wound complications were identified after discharge. 6/122 (4.9%) were readmitted for intravenous antibiotics, whilst others were managed in the outpatient setting. TI (aOR = 0.15; 95% 0.03-0.75) and combined open FE with endovascular revascularisation (aOR = 0.33; 95% 0.11-0.95) had protective effects on wound complications. Type of the patch used was not associated with any wound complications ( = 0.07).

Conclusion: Compared to traditional LI, TI for CFE and OTA have lower risk of wound complications and reduced readmission rates in our series. We advocate adopting TI as the standard for femoral artery procedures rather than LI.