Leriche Syndrome: Surgical Procedures and Early and Late Results

During the past thirteen years, 29 patients underwent surgical intervention for Leriche syndrome. Fifteen patients (aged forty-two to seventy-two years, average 60.7 years) underwent anatomical bypass, and 9 of them whose thrombus was confined to the infrarenal aorta received a routine graft insertion. In the other 6 whose thrombus extended to the level of the renal arteries, an open thrombectomy of the juxtarenal aorta was first performed through a transection of the infrarenal aorta under renal ischemia (4-14 minutes, average 7). Twelve elderly or high-risk patients (aged sixty-eight to eighty-four years, average 75.3 years) underwent an axillobifemoral bypass, and another (continued on next page) 2 (fifty-eight and sixty years old, respectively) who had been operated on at an earlier time received an ascending aortobifemoral bypass. In cases of anatomical bypass, no graft has occluded and all patients but 1, who died of cerebral infarction, have an active life now. In cases of extraanatomical bypass, 5 of the 28 grafts occluded and only 6 patients have survived. The other 8 patients died of malignancy, atherosclerotic complications, or unknown causes. The 10-year survival rate was 92.9% and 29.5% in the anatomical bypass and extraanatomical bypass group, respectively. In Leriche syndrome, anatomical bypass is preferred to extraanatomical bypass if conditions permit. In the juxtarenal type, an open thrombectomy under renal ischemia is mandatory for anatomical bypass, and a transection of the infrarenal aorta facilitates this procedure. Because the patients with Leriche syndrome are elderly and harbor arte riosclerotic lesions, a careful follow-up is mandatory.