Superficial femoral vein graft donation from the amputated limb

Abstract

Vascular reconstruction in critical limb ischaemia is commonly achieved using autologous vein graft. Where there is no suitable venous tissue available synthetic grafts may be employed, but in the presence of local infection this may be ill advised. A case is described where reconstruction was under taken at the time of amputation. In this situation the amputa ted limb was used as a source of suitable venous tissue. back bleeding, with the superficial femoral artery previously occluded. Following removal of the graft, worsening ischaemia of the limb occurred and an aboveknee amputat ion was necessary. The superficial femoral vein distal to the proposed amputat ion level was harvested, as no suitable vein of this quality or length was available elsewhere. This segment of vein was reversed and used to bridge the defect be tween the CFA and PFA. A sartorius muscle flap was mobilised to cover the graft. Postoperatively the amputat ion s tump remains viable.