Removal of the thrombosed prosthetic axillofemoral graft

Late thrombosis of prosthetic graft material is rarely managed successfully by simple thrombectomy or thrombolytic therapy. Replacement with a new gra ft may be necessary. Although several techniques have been described, mobil izing and removing an old thrombosed prosthetic graft is usually extremely difficult because of a firm attachment to its tunnel. This attempt is more difficult especially fur ringed grafts. We describe a simple technique of u sing an internal varicose vein stripper for the removal of such a late thro mbosed axillofemoral spiral polytetrafluoroethylene graft and positioning a new graft into the old tunnel. (C) 2001 Excerpta Medica, Inc. All rights r eserved.