Luca di Marzo

Surgical treatment of popliteal artery entrapment syndrome: A ten-year experience

Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome is increasingly described in the world literature as a cause of lower limb arterial impairment. It is caused by the anomalous interrelationship between the popliteal artery and its surrounding muscular and/or tendineous structures. The first case surgically treated was reported in 1959 and since then more than 300 cases have been reported including our personal experience (31 cases in 23 patients). We have treated surgically 19 males and four females with symptoms which were moderate (cramping after intensive physical training, paraesthesia, etc.) in 14 limbs, intermittent claudication in 16 and necrosis (first toe) in one. Preoperative arteriography showed arterial occlusion in eight limbs, stenosis in eight and aneurysms in two. In 11 limbs stenosis or occlusion was only shown after active plantar hyperextension and in two arteriography was not done because surgical indications were established on the basis of a venogram positive for popliteal vein entrapment syndrome. Ten different anatomical variants were seen and the medial head of gastrocnemius muscle was involved in 74.2%. Surgical treatment consisted of division of the aberrant musculotendinous tissue in 18 cases (in two of these balloon angioplasty was also used). In 12 cases a vascular reconstruction was also required, while one case was explored without a specific procedure being warranted. Optimal results were obtained when the syndrome was treated at an early stage by simple division of musculotendinous tissue (94.4% long-term patency rate, mean follow-up 46.0 months, min 2, max 120 months). When arterial grafting was required the long-term patency rate was only 58.3% (mean follow-up 43.5 months, min 1, max 100 months).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Popliteal Vascular Entrapment

Popliteal Arterial Entrapment (PAE) was first reported in 1879 by Stuart, a medical student at the University of Edinburgh. Mr. Stuart observed, during the dissection of an amputated leg of a 64-year-old man, a popliteal artery coursing around the medial head of the gastrocnemius muscle and aneurysmal changes in the popliteal artery distal to the point of external muscular compression [1]. The first case of PAE was surgically treated in 1959, in a 12year-old boy complaining of claudication after walking 300 meters. At surgical exploration, Hamming, at Leyden University in The Netherlands, found an occluded artery with an anomalous course medial to the medial gastrocnemius muscle. He transected the muscle and performed a successful popliteal artery thromboendarterectomy [2]. In 1979 Rich et al. published the first series of patients treated for PAE [3]. Many case reports were published in the ensuing years, as well as other small series [4]. Efforts to revise collective series were incomplet for lack of details and patient follow-up [5]. The functional form of entrapment was first described by Rignault et al. in 1985 in a report describes cases in which the anatomy of the popliteal fossa is normal [6].

Popliteal artery entrapment syndrome: The role of early diagnosis and treatment

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether certain factors could influence arterial impairment at presentation for treatment of popliteal artery entrapment syndrome (PAES) and whether its early diagnosis could optimize long-term results. METHODS Between 1979 and 1995, 30 patients were treated for PAES at our institution. Patients were characterized by age, risk factors, associated diseases, preoperative symptoms, affected side, dominant limb, duration of symptoms, musculotendinous structure causing the compression, arteriographic findings, arterial status at presentation, type of operation, postoperative complications, and long-term follow-up. RESULTS Twenty-nine (65%) limbs underwent musculotendinous section (MTS), 15 (33%) limbs underwent vascular reconstruction, and 1 (2%) was surgically explored. Patients submitted to MTS were younger (mean, 31 +/- 3 years) than patients who underwent vascular reconstruction (mean, 41 +/- 4 years; p < 0.05). MTS limbs had a greater number of minor symptoms compared with those that underwent vascular reconstruction (62% versus 20%; p < 0.02). Arteriogram showed that MTS limbs had a greater number of normal findings at rest when compared with limbs that underwent conventional reconstruction (85% versus 0%; p < 0.001). No specific factors influenced the arterial status at presentation. During follow-up, treadmill examination revealed that MTS limbs had a better response (96%) than limbs that had undergone vascular procedures (67%; p < 0.02). MTS limbs had a better long-term patency rate (mean, 87 +/- 7 months) compared with limbs that were submitted to vascular reconstruction (mean, 107 +/- 8 months) (95% versus 65%; p < 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Because PAES is a progressive disease that can create serious vascular obstructive disease and no specific factors seem to influence the degree of vascular impairment, the detection and treatment of PAES at an early stage permit better long-term results.

Predictive value of transcutaneous oxygen tension measurement in the indication for spinal cord stimulation in patients with peripheral vascular disease: preliminary results

Thirteen patients (12 males, 1 fe male, mean age 60.5 years) affected by peripheral vascular disease (21 lower limbs: 9 with intermittent clau dication and 12 with rest pain and/or necrosis smaller than 3 cm2) have been studied by means of transcuta neous oxygen tension (TcpO2) mea surements. They had been submitted to spinal cord stimulation (SCS) de vice implant from one day to twenty- two months previously. In 8 patients (15 limbs) implanted from one day to twenty-two months, the TcpO2 index was calculated to evaluate the neuro- stimulator effect on peripheral blood circulation. In 5 patients (6 limbs) studied before definitive implanta tion, preoperative and postoperative TcpO2 measurements were able to predict the SCS efficacy during the temporary trial period: when TcpO2 did not increase immediately (4 limbs), no result was achieved (am putation) ; a TcpO2 increase corre sponded to relief of symptoms (2 limbs). On the basis of this preliminary report, TcpO2 measurement could be useful for predicting SCS efficacy in vascular patients; the possibility of dividing the patients into responders and nonresponders to SCS by TcpO2 measurement represents an impor tant achievement in determining the indication for SCS implant.

Cystic adventitial degeneration of the popliteal artery: lectin-histochemical study.

A case of cystic adventitial degeneration (CAD) of the popliteal artery is presented. Histologically the cyst appeared localised in the adventitia, outside the elastic lamina. A lectin-histochemical study evaluated the following peroxidase conjugated lectins: Peanut agglutinin, Concanavalin A, Ulex Europaeus (UEA I) and Wheat Germ Agglutinin. The lack of UEA I reactivity excluded an arterial origin of the cyst. Moreover, the lectin binding pattern of CAD appeared to be similar to the reactivity pattern of normal synovia.

Long-term results and outcomes of crossover axilloaxillary bypass grafting: A 24-year experience

OBJECTIVE The outcome of crossover axilloaxillary bypass grafting in patients with stenosis or occlusion of the innominate or subclavian arteries was investigated. METHODS The study was designed as a retrospective clinical study in a university hospital setting with 61 patients as the basis of the study. Fifty-eight patients (95.1%) had at least two risk factors or associated medical illnesses for atherosclerosis, and 35 patients (57.4%) had concomitant carotid artery stenosis that necessitated a staged procedure in 12 patients (19.7%). The patients underwent a total of 63 crossover axilloaxillary bypass grafting procedures. Demographics, risk factors and associated medical illnesses, preoperative symptoms and angiographic data, blood flow inversion in the vertebral artery, concomitant carotid artery disease, graft shape, caliber and material, and intraoperative and postoperative complications were studied to assess the specific influence in determining the outcome. RESULTS One postoperative death (1.6%), four early graft thromboses (6.2%), and six minor complications (9. 8%) occurred. The overall mortality and morbidity rates were 1.6% and 16.1%, respectively. During the follow-up period (mean, 97.3 +/- 7.9 months), we observed five graft thromboses (8.3%). Primary and secondary patency rates at 5 and 10 years were 86.5% and 82.8% and 88.1% and 84.3%, respectively. Overall, two patients (3.3%) had recurrence of upper limb symptoms and none had recurrence of symptoms in the carotid or vertebrobasilar territory. The 5-year and 10-year symptom-free interval rates were 97.7% and 93.5%, respectively. Nine patients (15%) died of unrelated causes. The 5-year and 10-year survival rates were 93.2% and 67.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that no specific variables exerted an influence in the short-term and long-term results and the outcome. CONCLUSION The optimal outcome of axilloaxillary bypass grafting supports its use as the most valuable surgical alternative to transthoracic anatomic reconstructions for innominate lesion, long stenosis of the subclavian artery, and short subclavian artery stenosis associated with ispilateral carotid artery lesions.

Laser Doppler Flowmetry and Transcutaneous Oxygen Tension in Patients with Severe Arterial Insufficiency Treated by Epidural Spinal Cord Electrical Stimulation

Six patients (3 men, 3 women, mean age 74.2 years) affected by severe arterial insufficiency with rest pain and/or necrosis (smaller than 3 cm2) have been studied simultaneously by means of transcutaneous oxygen tension (Tcp02) and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) measurements. They had been submitted to epidural spinal cord electrical stimulation (ESES) device implant from one week to thirteen months previously. Tcp02 vasodilation index and LDF flow and LDF volume increased in 5 patients in whom the ESES was effective in pain relief and ulcer healing. In 1 diabetic patient the clinical result was poor and neither Tcp02 nor LDF showed any improvement. The LDF flow and LDF volume increase, coupled with the simultaneous Tcp02 vasodilation index increase, testify to the amelioration of the cutaneous microcir culation, related to a diminished vasomotor tone (sympathetic activity), induced by ESES . In diabetic patients with neuropathy (autonomic sympathectomy) a high vasodilation index contraindicates ESES implant.

Management of abdominal aortic prosthetic graft infection requiring emergent treatment

The purpose of this study was to investigate mortality and morbidity rates and long-term outcome of patients who underwent emergency treatment of abdominal aortic prosthetic graft infection. Between January 1984 and December 1993, 18 men aged fifty-nine ±sixteen years were operated on as an emergency for an acute life-threatening complication of aortic prosthetic graft infection. The grafts had been implanted for abdominal aortic aneurysm in 9 patients and aortoiliac occlusive disease in 9, from one to one hundred seventy months previously. Five (28%) patients presented with a hemorrhagic shock due to a fistula between the vascular reconstruction and the small bowel (4 patients) or the right ureter (1 patient) and 13 (72%) had generalized sepsis. The grafts were always radically explanted. Extraanatomic revascularization procedures included 6 axillopopliteal and 12 axillofemoral bypass grafts. Operative mortality was 39% (7 patients), and 3 (9%) limbs were amputated within thirty days. Two (11%) patients died after seven and twelve months, respectively, of septic complications, and 1 (5%) patient died after six months from an unrelated cause. Eight (73%) patients are still alive at a mean follow-up of fifty ±thirty-four months, but in 3 the extraanatomic bypass was removed for infection and 5 major amputations were performed. Two-year survival and limb salvage rates were 44% and 50%, respectively. Aortic prosthetic graft infections that require emergent treatment continue to demon strate high early and late mortality and limb loss rates despite aggressive intervention and limb salvage procedures. Newer methods of managing these complications should continue to be investigated.

Endovascular Stenting for Popliteal Vascular Entrapment Is Not Recommended

Endovascular techniques are often applied, but they have occasionally been reported in the treatment of popliteal vascular entrapment (PVE). A case of bilateral PVE is presented with an acute occlusion of the right popliteal artery. This was twice unsuccessfully treated with arterial recanalization and stenting at another Institution. The patient required an arterial reconstruction with his reversed saphenous vein, in addition to resection of the medial gastrocnemius muscle laterally inserted on his right limb. The left limb was treated with a simple myotomy. Recanalization and stenting is not recommended for PVE treatment.

Experimental Evaluation of Tissue Reactivity to Vascular Sutures: Dacron, Polypropylene, PTFE

Three currently available cardiovascular suture materials (braided dacron, polypropylene, PTFE) were compared in a series of abdominal aortic grafting in the beagle dog, aiming at the definition of tissue response. Optimal accept ance by tissues was demonstrated for monofilaments (PTFE, polypropylene); braided dacron was shown to cause a heavy and prolonged tissue reaction.