Faculty Bibliography

We have used 822 polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts in arterial reconstructions for limb salvage over the last 6 years at Montefiore Medical Center-Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Four hundred and twenty-seven femoropopliteal reconstructions with PTFE had a 6 year cumulative life table patency rate of 55% with follow-up of 76 grafts for more than 3 years and 28 grafts for more than 4 years. Seventy-nine bypasses to the isolated popliteal segment had a 6 year cumulative patency rate of 72%. There were 207 bypasses performed to the tibial, peroneal or dorsalis pedis arteries. Life table patency rates were 55% at 1 year, 40% at 2 years and 37% at 4 years. Ninety-two PTFE femorofemoral and 62 axillofemoral bypasses had 5 1/2 year cumulative life table patency rates of 83% and 75%, respectively. Axillopopliteal PTFE bypasses can salvage otherwise doomed limbs. Thirty-four such grafts had 74% 1 year and 45% 5 year patency rates. The overall infection rate in all 822 PTFE grafts was only 0.5%. Thus, PTFE is a promising vascular prosthetic material which facilitates otherwise difficult or impossible limb salvage procedures

Antilymphocyte globulin (ALG) has been advocated for the treatment of renal transplant rejection episodes in patients maintained on prednisone and azathioprine. Treatment with steroids (outpatient) is considerably less expensive than with ALG (inpatient), so we studied whether routine ALG was necessary. Between 3/82 and 11/83, 54 cadaver transplant recipients maintained on prednisone and azathioprine who developed a first rejection episode were randomized to receive--for treatment of their first, and if necessary second, rejection--methylprednisolone (MP) plus ALG (n = 24), or MP alone, with ALG added if treatment failed (n = 30). Treatment failure was defined as continuing deterioration on T131 iodohippuran scan, rising serum creatinine level, or lack of improvement within 7 days. There was no significant difference in patient survival, graft survival, mean number of rejections, and infection rate between the two groups: 60% (18/30) of first and 50% (10/10) of second rejection episodes responded to MP alone. We conclude that patients are not penalized by initial rejection treatment with MP. Many rejection episodes respond to steroids alone; elimination of routine ALG use will save hospitalization time and expense

Tibiotibial bypasses were performed with short (8 to 33 cm) segments of reversed autologous vein in 14 patients who did not have longer segments of usable vein. All patients faced imminent amputation unless they had an effective revascularization. Two patients died, one within 1 month of operation. One patient required below-knee amputation despite a patent bypass. Eleven patients (79%) have a patent bypass and a functional limb 6 to 50 months after operation. These good patency results even with several grafts inserted into isolated segments of tibial arteries, some with incomplete plantar arches, suggest that these short vein grafts may be superior to other vein grafts. Tibiotibial bypasses may improve limb salvage results in otherwise difficult circumstances

Over the last 5 years, we have performed 34 axillopopliteal bypasses to salvage threatened limbs of patients in whom standard anatomic or extra-anatomic bypasses had either failed or were not feasible. The indications for these axillopopliteal bypasses, all of which were performed with 6 mm polytetrafluoroethylene grafts, were: (1) severe atherosclerotic disease of the common, superficial and deep femoral arteries which precluded use of these vessels for inflow or outflow for a standard vascular procedure (15 cases); (2) failed aortofemoral bypass with sufficient fibrosis or disease progression in the profunda femoris artery to prevent its use in a reoperation (7 cases); (3) insufficient hemodynamic improvement and failure to heal a foot lesion after an axillofemoral bypass (9 cases); and (4) sepsis in the groin from a previously infected bypass (3 cases). Graft patency was determined by objective measures. Cumulative life table graft patency rates were 77% at 1 year, 51% at 3 years, and 45% at 5 years. Although these rates are not as good as those for our axillofemoral bypasses (75% at 5 years), 22 limbs revascularized by axillopopliteal bypasses were salvaged with function for 1 year and 9 were salvaged with function for 2 years or longer in situations in which no option other than amputation was available. This justifies the continuing use of axillopopliteal bypass in an effort to salvage those limbs imminently threatened with amputation and in which no standard reconstruction is feasible because of disease or infection

While it is generally thought that collateral back pressure (CBP) is a reliable predictor of graft patency, this correlation has not yet been validated. We have used a new, simple technique to measure CBP without direct puncture of the recipient artery. After the distal anastomosis is completed, the graft is filled with saline and clamped proximally. A transducer connected needle is then inserted into the distal portion of the graft for CBP measurements (mm Hg). These were obtained in 84 grafts (43 femoropopliteals [FP] and 41 femorodistals [FD]). Outflow resistance (OR) measurements (mm Hg/ml/min) were also obtained in 70 (36 FP; 34 FD) of these grafts by a previously described technique. The mean CBP for FP and FD bypasses was 41 +/- 17 and 26 +/- 19 mm Hg, respectively (P less than 0.001). Although early graft patency (3 months) (13 occluded, 71 patent) did not correlate with angiographic findings of popliteal runoff or integrity of pedal arch, it did significantly relate to CBP. Mean CBP for occluded grafts was 22 +/- 17 mm Hg and for patent grafts it was 36 +/- 19 mm Hg (P less than 0.01). Similarly, mean OR was significantly related to patency, 1.29 +/- 0.23 mm Hg/ml/min for occluded grafts and 0.36 +/- 0.23 mm Hg/ml/min for patent grafts (P less than 0.0001). Moreover, only OR was a significant predictor of infrapopliteal graft patency (P less than 0.01). OR was found to be a better predictor of graft patency than CBP by stepwise logistic regression analysis (P less than 0.0001). We conclude that CBP is a more reliable predictor of graft outcome than angiographic criteria.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

CSAD provides a challenge for the vascular surgeon. Patients are older, sicker, and at greater risk than are patients with unisegmental disease. Similarly, symptoms are more severe and limb loss is more frequent. A multitude of different reconstructive techniques are available, but their injudicious or untimely use can not only fail to improve the patient but can also cause limb loss or death. Their use must be predicated by a differentiation of which arterial segments are hemodynamically involved, yet this determination may not be possible even after extensive noninvasive and invasive investigation. To optimize the approach to these patients, the following principles should be employed. First, incapacitating claudication is a valid indication for a suprainguinal inflow procedure in a good-risk patient. However, indications for surgery should usually be limited to limb salvage, especially if an infrainguinal procedure is contemplated. Medical conditions such as heart failure and diabetes should be improved before arteriography. The latter should delineate the entire infrarenal arterial system, with special attention to the iliac, deep femoral, and pedal arteries. Oblique views may be of critical importance. Noninvasive hemodynamic tests should be used to confirm the need for arterial reconstruction and help delineate areas of functional stenosis. Direct pull-through pressure measurements may be required for ultimate confirmation. If proximal disease is thus defined, as proximal inflow operation should usually be sufficient unless there is extensive gangrene of the foot, in which case synchronous distal grafts may be required. If the proximal graft alone is performed, the patient must be followed closely since approximately 10% of patients may need subsequent distal reconstructions. The role of the 'runoff' segments such as the deep femoral artery, popliteal trifurcation, and pedal arteries may be critical. Every effort should be made to ensure flow through these vessels. Profundoplasty alone is seldom indicated but is often a valuable adjunct to other reconstructive procedures. Lumbar sympathectomy is seldom required. PTA is becoming a valuable adjunct to treatment of CSAD, and intraoperative dilatation also has potential attributes. If such an approach is followed, lasting limb salvage with minimal morbidity should be achieved in most patients with CSAD

Of 129 femoropopliteal bypasses, 40 closed in 0 to 42 months. Early and late closures were not predicted by pre- or postoperative ankle/brachial pressure index (ABPI) or ankle pulse volume recording amplitude (APVR) or their increments (delta). Of 141 femorotibial bypasses, 60 closed in 0 to 12 months, with 46 closing early (less than 1 month). Early failure occurred in 19 of 52 limbs (37%) with pre-ABPI less than 0.2 and 17 of 89 limbs (19%) with pre-ABPI greater than 0.2 (p less than 0.025). Similar significant differences in early patency occurred between limbs with pre-APVR less than 5 and greater than 5 mm (29 of 94 [34%] vs. 7 of 47 [15%], respectively). Late closure was not predicted by either value. Thus in the 44 limbs with pre-ABPI greater than 0.2 and pre-APVR greater than 5 mm, only 11 grafts closed (25%), whereas if pre-ABPI was less than 0.2 or pre-APVR less than 5 mm, 49 of 97 grafts (51%) occluded within 17 months (p less than 0.025). Postoperative or delta indices had no predictive value. Preoperative ABPI less than 0.2 or APVR less than 5 mm was associated with twice the risk of early femorotibial graft closure; however, cumulative life-table patency was still 39% at 24 months

Transplantation of organs and tissues provides the clinician with treatment options for many types of organ failure. However, nearly all transplant efforts are limited by a relative scarcity of donor material. Donor organ and tissue availability can be increased by developing suitable preservation methods and by improving the awareness of primary health care providers as to the needs and scope of therapeutic transplantation. Donor material capable of immediate function upon implantation will become available as increasingly effective techniques of tissue and organ preservation develop. These techniques are extremely important for lung, heart, and liver transplantation, where no artificial, long-term methods of support exist, making immediate function a necessity. In Part I of this article, the authors discussed transplantation of cornea, kidney, heart, lung, and heart-lung block; Part II covers transplantation of liver, pancreas, skin, and bone marrow

To maximize organ utilization, we assessed the feasibility of retrieving the heart and two single lungs or the heart and a separate bilateral lung block for transplantation into multiple recipients. In eight dogs the excision of the heart-lung block or of the left lung was followed by six hours of lung preservation. Four of these lungs and all eight hearts were transplanted successfully. In addition, satisfactory retrieval of the three separate organs or of the heart and a separate bilateral lung block was done in six human cadavers. An appropriate division of the left atrial wall provided suitable cuffs for individual transplantation of the three organs or for the heart and bilateral lung block. This study demonstrates the feasibility of multiple organ donation from a single donor followed by separate organ transplantation