Do Not Tunnel the Small Bowel during the Tunneling of a Femoro-Femoral Bypass

Abstract

A 62-year-old male with a history of femoro-femoral crossover bypass surgery 31 months previously presented with recurrent symptoms of fever and chills, along with a previous positive blood culture. Computed tomography showed vegetation in the bypass graft located in the peritoneal cavity, closely abutting the small bowel and soft tissue lesions in the right proximal thigh and distal calf. Under high suspicion of graft-enteric fistula with metastatic infection, surgery was performed to remove the previous graft and insert a new femoro-femoral bypass graft subcutaneously. Small bowel resection and anastomosis were also performed because the graft penetrated the small bowel mesentery and eroded into the small bowel. The patient had a patent graft without infection for more than 10 years. This case demonstrates the importance of tunneling in femoro-femoral crossover bypass free from the small bowel or other intraperitoneal organs.

Keywords

• vascular grafting
• postoperative complications
• prosthesis-related infections