RESUMEN
We compared retrospectively the immediate and mid-term outcome in 203 operations for AAA performed at the Saint-Michel Hospital in the vascular surgery department. Two groups of patients were treated either with a tube graft or with a Dacron bifurcated graft. In our experience, the tube was prefered when there were no haemodynamically significant stenosis or aneurysmal dilatations in the iliac arteries. Tube implantation was shorter and caused less haemorrhage (p < 0.01), but post-operative mortality and morbidity was not significantly different. Patients with bifurcated graft had late vascular complications requiring reoperation more often. Most were anastomotic false-aneurysms. Three patients with a tube developed iliac lesions requiring an aorto-femoral or aorto-bifemoral graft. Cure of an AAA with a tube graft is the choice treatment in patients free of severe iliac lesions or an aneurysmal bifurcation. The risk of subsequent iliac lesions requiring reoperation is low.