Surgical Treatment for Buerger’s Disease Using the Left Radial Artery as a Graft Conduit
On a 35-year-old male patient with Buerger's disease in whom the lower limb veins could not be used because of repeated operations, the bypass operation using the radial artery was made. Revascularization surgery for his Buerger's disease had been performed twice in another hospital, but the bypass graft was occluded. The approach was made to the only patent anterior tibial artery from the lateral aspect of the leg by resecting the fibula and anastomosing the radial artery. The arm vein was anastomosed to this radial artery as a composite graft and was extended with approximately 6 cm of a ring-inforced ePTFE 6 mm (Gore-Tex) and anastomosed to the common femoral artery. Two years and a half after the operation, the patient is well and working with no symptoms in either the upper or lower limb. Using the radial artery at the site of anastomosis on the peripheral side, that affects the mid-term patency the most, prevents deterioration of the graft in the follow-up period and gives satisfactory mid-term results.
