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A retrospective analysis of acute abdominal vascular injuries was performed to review outcome variables and treatment principles. The authors review their most recent 5-year experience with 106 major abdominal vascular injuries in 64 patients treated at a combined Army and Air Force urban medical center. The majority of the patients were young men who sustained penetrating injuries. There were 41 (64%) gunshot wounds, 17 (27%) stab wounds, and 6 (9%) sustained blunt trauma. Forty-five patients (71%) came to the hospital in shock. The inferior vena cava in 26 patients (41%) and the aorta in 11 patients (17%) were injured most frequently. Suture repair was possible in 53 (50%) injuries. Ligation was performed in 41 (39%). Overall mortality for the series was 39 per cent. Hemorrhagic shock was the cause of death in 23 patients (92%) with only two late deaths. Transfusion requirement, presence of shock, and number of vessels injured all affected outcome. Immediate stabilization in the emergency department includes appropriate crystalloid and blood product resuscitation with minimal delay for diagnostic studies. Prompt abdominal exploration to control hemorrhage and particular attention to factors associated with coagulopathy remain the key elements in saving the lives of these severely injured patients.

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Hypercoagulable states are disorders of blood coagulation, which include deficiencies of natural anticoagulants, disorders of the fibrinolytic system, presence of antiphospholipid antibody and abnormalities of platelet function. These disorders are well known causes of venous thromboembolic disease and are being recognized in association with arterial thromboembolic occurrences with increasing frequency. The performance of standard prosthetic vascular reconstructions may result in disastrous outcomes in patients with unrecognized and untreated hypercoagulable states. From 1986 to 1990, we identified 12 patients with hypercoagulable states, six of whom presented with evidence of arterial thromboembolism. All of the patients were men who smoked and were somewhat younger than the usual patient with atherosclerosis. Their ages ranged from 41 to 62 years. Four patients presented with ischemic rest pain, one patient with blue toe syndrome and one with rapidly progressive claudication. Four patients had undergone prior vascular reconstruction and two had previous pulmonary emboli. Evaluation of these patients to identify hypercoagulability included determinations of prothrombin time (PT) and partial thromboplastin time (PTT), platelet count, antithrombin III, protein C, free protein S and total protein S levels, along with platelet aggregometry. Two patients had protein S deficiency, one had protein C deficiency, one patient had protein C and S deficiency and two patients had hyperaggregable platelets. Four patients had prosthetic reconstructions and two had autogenous reconstructions. Three of the four patients undergoing prosthetic reconstructions had subsequent loss of limb and one patient died. Only one patient with prosthetic reconstruction had a patent graft on long term anticoagulation. Both patients undergoing autogenous procedures had successful revascularization with limb salvage.

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The pathophysiology of foot problems in diabetic patients is poorly understood by many physicians. Two major factors that frequently lead to a delay in appropriate treatment with subsequent limb loss are failure to appreciate the presence and severity of underlying infection and attribution of gangrene of the toe and forefoot to microvascular disease. To evaluate the consequences of delayed recognition and treatment, we reviewed the records of 55 diabetic patients with localized gangrene or infection of the forefoot in 62 limbs, treated consecutively on a single vascular surgical service over a 2-year period using a standard protocol. All appropriately treated neuropathic ulcers and forefoot infections healed in patients with palpable pedal pulses. If foot pulses were absent and arteriography confirmed large-vessel occlusive disease, foot lesions and infections likewise healed if concomitant revascularization was done. In our series, 33 bypasses were required because of severe atherosclerotic occlusive disease. Only one patient had "unreconstructable" arterial disease. Limb salvage was 86% at a mean follow-up of 12.4 months. In 16 of the patients (29%), there was a prolonged delay between initial treatment and referral for definitive care. The specific causes of delay were underestimation of the severity of foot infection in 10 patients, and lack of recognition of ischemia due to large-vessel occlusive disease in six. These delays led to more proximal levels of amputation in six patients, including three below-knee amputations in patients with limbs that were initially salvageable.

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The authors recently initiated a prospective randomized trial in which results of standard balloon angioplasty were compared with those of laser thermal angioplasty in the treatment of patients with symptoms of femoropopliteal occlusive disease. The data regarding their initial technical success are reported herein. Twenty-five patients with moderate to severe claudication have thus far undergone 27 procedures. The type of lesions treated varied from short focal stenoses to occlusions up to 10 cm in length; 12 stenoses and 15 occlusions were treated. Fourteen procedures were randomized to laser therapy and 13 to standard balloon angioplasty. If the primary randomized treatment failed, the alternative procedure was then attempted. Of the 14 laser procedures, five were initial failures; three of these failures were subsequently treated successfully with the balloon technique. Three of 13 balloon procedures were failures; none were subsequently successful with use of the laser. While these data are limited, initial experience indicates that technical success is directly related to the ability to pass an angiographic wire through the lesion and the length and type of lesions. It does not appear to depend on whether the laser or the balloon is used.

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To assess the utility of routine duplex surveillance, 379 infrainguinal reversed vein grafts performed at two independent teaching hospitals were prospectively entered into a surveillance protocol from March 1986 through August 1989. An average of 3.2 postoperative duplex graft flow velocity (GFV) measurements per graft was obtained during a mean follow-up interval of 21 1/2 months. Only 2.1% of 280 grafts with GFV measurements greater than 45 cm/sec failed within 6 months of a normal surveillance examination. GFV measurements less than 45 cm/sec in 99 grafts led to arteriography in 75 grafts, identifying 50 stenotic lesions in 48 bypasses (12.6% of series). Inflow lesions were present in 5%, outflow stenoses in 2%, and intrinsic graft stenoses in only 6% of bypasses. Only 29% of grafts identified as failing by duplex scan were associated with a reduction in ankle-brachial index of greater than 0.15. Secondary reconstructions were performed in 48 grafts based on detection of a reduced GFV measurement; all such reconstructions are patent after a mean follow-up of 5 months. Duplex surveillance is more reliable in identification of failing vein grafts than is determination of ankle-brachial index.

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Iatrogenic subclavian artery pseudoaneurysms developed in two patients after inadvertent introducer sheath placement into the artery during attempted subclavian vein cannulation using Seldinger's technique. Such iatrogenic subclavian artery pseudoaneurysms are quite rare, but they may become more common with the increasing use of invasive monitoring and diagnostic techniques. Both cases involved patients in hypovolemic shock at the time of attempted subclavian vein cannulation. Their injuries were confirmed by preoperative arteriography, and primary arterial repair was successful in each. Based on our experience, we make the following recommendations: 1) subclavian vein cannulation with large-bore catheters should be avoided in hypovolemic patients; 2) suspected cases of iatrogenic arterial injury should be evaluated arteriographically; and 3) primary repair to prevent subsequent thrombosis, rupture, or embolization should be performed after confirmation of the injury.

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Seventeen patients with clinical chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who required aortic reconstruction underwent preoperative pulmonary function testing that categorized them as extremely high risk for pulmonary complications. Ten patients (Group 1) received perioperative steroids and seven patients (Group 2) received no perioperative adjunctive steroids. The mean forced expiratory volume (FEV 1) was 45% of the predicted value in Group 1 patients and 47% in Group 2 patients. The forced expiratory flow (25% to 75%) was severely restricted in both groups: 0.47 liters per second in Group 1 (16% +/- 6% predicted value) and 0.53 liters per second (20% +/- 7% predicted value) in Group 2 patients. Using a regimen consisting of preoperative pulmonary physiotherapy, optimization of theophylline levels, and early postoperative extubation with initiation of postoperative physiotherapy resulted in survival in all cases. There did not appear to be a clear advantage to the use of adjunctive perioperative steroids. The overall incidence of pulmonary complications was 22%. Four patients died during the follow-up interval. The remaining 13 patients were alive at a mean follow-up interval of 35 months. Using a number of adjunctive techniques, successful aortic reconstruction can be accomplished in many patients with severe COPD, and the majority will survive for extended periods after operation despite their impaired pulmonary function.

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Seven carotid body tumors in six patients were successfully managed using a multimodality approach that included the vascular surgeon, head and neck surgeon and angiographer. Five tumors were managed with preoperative subselective embolization of tumor vessels. Two required vascular reconstruction. The mean operative blood loss was 332 milliliters. All of the patients survived, and the only morbidity was one instance of transient vocal cord paresis. Surgical resection remains the treatment of choice for carotid body tumors. After angiographic embolization, a combined surgical approach by both the vascular surgeon and the head and neck surgeon reduces the associated morbidity and blood loss during resection.

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Juxtarenal infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysms are defined as those aneurysms that involve the infrarenal abdominal aorta adjacent to or including the lower margin of renal artery origins. The misinterpretation of findings at exploratory operation or special studies may suggest renal artery involvement and result in abandonment of operation and/or referral to distant centers, thus delaying treatment. This report is concerned with 101 patients with a median age of 68 who had such aneurysms, all referred with a diagnosis of renal or visceral arterial involvement either after exploratory operation (32), because of aneurysmal size (12), or due to misinterpretation of special studies (57). Computed tomographic (CT) scans, ultrasounds, and aortograms in the anterio-posterior projection frequently suggested renal artery involvement due to the fact that the upper end of aneurysm frequently lay over the renal artery origins due to infrarenal aortic elongation and buckling of the aorta at the renal artery level. The true nature of the lesion was best demonstrated by aortography performed in the lateral position. The operation producing the best results was one performed through a midline abdominal incision. The aorta is cross-clamped at the diaphragm and the proximal anastomosis is performed from inside the aneurysm at the renal artery level. The graft then is clamped and the other clamp removed to restore flow in the visceral vessels while the distal anastomosis is completed. Early survival occurred in 93% of patients employing the operation, despite the fact that other conditions frequently were present: renal insufficiency in 19, rupture in seven, renal artery occlusive disease in 20, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 34, and hypertension in 77.

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