Infections associated with vascular reconstruction procedures at the Department of Surgery in Pilsen in retrospect
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Vascular graft infection is a rare but serious complication in vascular surgery, associated with high morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis of vascular graft infection is important for proper and timely surgical and antibiotic treatment that improves the outcome.
The tactic and techniques of surgical treatment of vascular graft infection have changed over the last two decades, and this trend can also be observed in our retrospective study. METHODS: We evaluated a group of patients with prosthetic vascular reconstructions performed at the Department of Surgery, University Hospital in Pilsen in the period of 2003-2021 using retrospective analysis.
In the analyzed 19-year period, 23 infected vascular grafts were managed out of a total of 2090 performed peripheral bypasses, and 27 infected vascular grafts were managed out of a total set of 1940 central reconstructions. RESULTS: The incidence of peripheral vascular graft infections at our Department of Surgery in the period of 2003-2021 reached 1.1% with the early mortality rate of 8.7%; 1.4% central vascular graft infections occurred in the same time period with 33% early mortality.
CONCLUSION: The results of our retrospective study are comparable virtually in all parameters with the experience of other departments. Consistently, our department switched to in situ replacements for explanted vascular grafts and we can confirm good experience with silver impregnated grafts.