Femoral bypass grafts seem feasible for diabetics
Electromagnetic flow probe may refute traditional view discouraging saphenous vein grafting in diabetic patients
Small vessel disease may not be any more severe among diabetics than among nondiabetics as long as one compares patients with a similar degree of atherosclerosis in their large vessels, according to investigators from the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
Femoropopliteal bypass grafting which might save some feet or legs should not be denied to diabetics on the theory that their capillaries and arterioles will not be able to take the increased blood flow, said Hendrick B. Barner, MD, assistant professor of surgery.
His bases for questioning the traditional opinion are intraoperative blood flow measurements and a 90% success rate in 74 femoropopliteal bypass grafts—of which 27 were done on the legs of diabetics—Dr. Barner told the 10th Multidiscipline Research Forum at the 119th Annual AMA Convention.
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