Treatment of Aortic Graft Infection with in Situ Replacement with a Superficial Femoral Vein Graft

Abstract

Aortic prosthetic graft infection is the most devastating complication in vascular surgery. We report three cases of Dacron graft infection in the thoracic and abdominal aorta reconstructed with in situ replacement with a superficial femoral vein (SFV) graft. One patient who underwent redo partial arch replacement with an SFV graft died of bleeding after coming off cardiopulmonary bypass. The second patient underwent re-replacement of the descending thoracic aorta and the third patient underwent abdominal aorta re-replacement; both patients survived. Graft replacement with the SFV may be reliable as a descending thoracic short graft or abdominal graft.