2016 Volume 25 Pages 278-281
A heparin-bonded expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) vascular graft (GORE PROPATEN Vascular Graft, W.L. GORE & ASSOCIATES, Flagstaff, Ariz) has been commercially available for clinical use in Japan since 2014. Several good results of PROPATEN have been reported in Europe and the United States, however there is no report of the experience in Japan. So we retrospectively investigated 19 consecutive patients who performed femoropopliteal (FP) bypass using the PROPATEN (P group) at our institute between January of 2014 and November of 2015, compared with prior 19 FP bypasses using autologous saphenous vein graft (V group) and 45 FP bypasses using other prosthetic graft, including ePTFE graft without heparin and dacron graft (G group). The primary patency rates at 1.5-year for the PROPATEN were 84.9%, and the secondary patency rates were 90.9%. In the autologous saphenous vein graft group, the primary patency rates were 68.6% (1.5-year, 3-year) and secondary patency rates were 100% (1.5-year), 91.7% (3-year). In the other prosthetic graft group, the primary patency rates were 85.8% (1.5-year), 78.8% (3-year) and the secondary patency rates were 91.7% (1.5-year), 86.4% (3-year), respectively. Although these results were convincing, long-term results were needed for the PROPATEN to be the first choice of the prosthetic graft for FP bypass.
