Purpose: To describe a multi-center preliminary experience of treating prosthetic above knee femoropopliteal (AKFP) bypass occlusion by placing a Viabahn stent graft inside the occluded prosthetic bypass graft.
Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of consecutive 14 patients (mean age 73.2 ± 10.2, 78.6% male) receiving Viabahn stent graft inside the occluded prosthetic bypass graft for the treatment of prosthetic AKFP bypass occlusion in the collaborating hospitals from November 2016 to June 2019 was performed.
Results: Technical success was achieved in all patients. Mean lesion length was 34.0 ± 3.5 cm, concomitant thrombectomy or thrombus aspiration was performed in 11 patients (78.6%), and average of 1.57 ± 0.65 Viabahn stent grafts were used. Mean ankle-brachial index improved from 0.24 ± 0.23 to 0.98 ± 0.14 after the treatment. All patients had preoperative ischemic symptoms with 9 patients (64.3%) having Rutherford class > 4 symptoms; however, all preoperative symptoms resolved after the treatment. During the mean follow-up of 450.9 ± 234.7 days, there were two target lesion revascularizations, leading to a primary patency rate of 92.9% and a secondary patency of 100.0% at 1 year.
Conclusion: Placing a Viabahn stent graft inside the occluded prosthetic bypass graft for the treatment of prosthetic AKFP bypass occlusion appears to be effective from our preliminary experience. Even though sample size is limited in our study, it may be considered as a potential treatment option before surgical reintervention.
Keywords: Above knee femoropopliteal bypass occlusion; Prosthetic graft; Viabahn stent graft.