Peroperative transluminal angioplasty as a supplementary procedure to arterial reconstruction surgery

Patients with affections of the vascular system of the lower extremities at several levels present a complicated problem for vascular surgery. The authors submit their experience with a combination of vascular reconstruction and peroperative transluminal angioplasty. In 25 patients, mean age 64 years, they performed 29 of these combined operations, 10 times on account of claudications, 11 times on account of pain at rest, 8 times on account of trophic defects. The pelvic vessels were dilated 6 times; the dilated vessels as well as the reconstruction remained patent. Peroperative angioplasty of the superficial femoral artery was performed 6 times, occlusion occurred once. Twelve times they dilated the distal portion of the popliteal artery or the vessels of the leg, 3 times the dilated portion became occluded. None of the patients lost the limb, one patient died from acute myocardial infarction shortly after operation. The authors describe the technique of peroperative transluminal angioplasty, evaluate the results and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this method.