Diffuse Dilatation of Autogenous Saphenous Vein Grafts Used to Replace the Renal and Superior Mesenteric Arteries. A Case Report

Abstract

Of the many different materials used to replace diseased arteries, autogenous saphenous vein grafts are among the most favored.¹ This view is also explicitly expressed regarding patients who suffer from occlusive arterial disease of the abdominal viscera, particularly the renal vessels.^2-4 There is, however, recent information which suggests that for reasons unknown saphenous vein grafts in the renal position are likely to be subject to both diffuse and aneurysmatic dilatation,3,5 a complication seen only seldom in the femoral^1,6 and practically never in the coronary^7-8 position.

The purpose of this paper is to present the case of a young woman with fibromuscular stenosis of both her abdominal renal and the mesenteric arteries whose condition was surgically corrected using autogenous vein grafts. Despite the fact that at the time of her surgery her saphenous vein appeared to be both macroscopically and microscopically intact and postoperatively her blood pressure returned to normal, she developed diffuse, aneurysmatic dilatation of all of her vein grafts.