The expanded polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) graft as a vascular substitute.

Ninety-one PTFE grafts (63 Gore-Tex and 28 Impragrafts) were used to bypass an occluded femoropopliteal artery in eighty-six patients. Ischemic rest-pain usually combined with ulcerative lesions or gangrene was the operative indication in 56 patients. In 58 percent the outflow was limited to at most 1 crural artery. The distal anastomosis was located to the distal popliteal artery in 38 reconstructions and to the tibioperoneal trunc or one of the crural arteries in 27 reconstructions. Postoperative angiography was performed in 18 patients. The incidence of early thrombosis is very high namely 47% within 3 months and 57% within 6 months. Limited outflow and thrombus apposition, as demonstrated by some angiograms, are the major reasons of the early occlusion.