Abstract
An experiment was undertaken to determine the effect of concomitant femoral vein obstruction on the mean blood flow in and the patency of reversed saphenous vein by-pass grafts. Sixteen vein grafts by-passing a chronically occluded superficial femoral artery in 16 dogs were inserted. The mean blood flow in the graft was measured before and after ligation of the common femoral vein. Ligation of the vein resulted in a 60% reduction in graft mean blood flow. The animals were allotted to one of 2 groups. In Group 1 (6 animals), no further procedure was done. None of these grafts was patent at 4 weeks. In Group 2 (10 animals), an ipsi-lateral lumbar sympathectomy was done. This restored the mean blood flow in the grafts to preligation levels. All 10 grafts were patent at 4 weeks. It is concluded that lumbar sympathectomy may be a desirable adjuvant procedure to saphenous vein by-pass surgery when the patency of the venous system is in doubt.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
