Impact of Diabetes Mellitus on Infrainguinal Bypass Grafting

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of diabetes mellitus (DM) in infrainguinal bypass graft outcome. One hundred forty-four patients who underwent 170 infrainguinal bypass grafts from 1990 to 1995 were reviewed retrospectively. Seventy-eight patients (94 bypasses) had DM and were followed for an average of 15.4 months; 13 patients were lost to follow up. The mean age was 68 years; 44 (56.4%) were men. The major indication for intervention was limb salvage for the DM (87/94, 92.6%) and non-DM (56/76, 73.7%) groups. No significant difference was found for perioperative wound complications, hematoma, myocardial infarction, or deep venous thrombosis between the DM and non-DM groups. Early mortalities were three for DM and one for non-DM patients. No significant difference was found between primary patency p = 0.71 , secondary patency p = 0.32 , limb salvage p = 0.99 , and survival p = 0.72 between DM and non-DM groups. DM patients were more likely to have significant tissue loss p = 0.009 and a longer hospital stay p = 0.01 . In conclusion, infrainguinal vein bypass grafting can be performed successfully in diabetic patients with comparable patency and limb-salvage rates to those without DM.