Axillofemoral Bypass in the Management of Infected Aortic Bifurcation “Dacron” Graft

Infection is probably the most serious of all the complications that follow reconstructive arterial surgery, particularly when a plastic prosthesis has been used. Not only may a successful operative procedure be jeopardized by thrombosis of the graft, but the life of the patient is severely threatened by septicœmia and massive hœmorrhage from infected suture lines. We have been unable to find any reference to this particular problem in the Australian literature, and for this reason we report in this paper the managment of an infected aortic bifurcation graft in which both the proximal and distal suture line had undergone disruption.