Abstract
Objective: We compared the early and late results of our surgical approaches in popliteal artery aneurysms that can cause symptoms such as thrombosis, distal embolization and rupture or are asymptomatic.
Material and Methods: Thirty-one aneurysms in 30 patients who underwent surgery for popliteal artery aneurysm in our clinic between March 2009 and March 2020 were included in the study. Patients with a popliteal aneurysm diameter of 2 cm or greater were operated. The patients were followed for graft patency and mortality.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 69.66±12.18 years and most of them were male (n=26, 83.9%). The mean aneurysm diameter was 47.53±19.59 mm. There was no difference between the two approaches in terms of early mortality. When survival was investigated, one and five years of survival were 88%, 58%, and 70%, 63% in the posterior and medial approaches, respectively. The mean survival time was 72.39±11.66 months in the posterior approach and 75.83±16.07 months in the medial approach. There was no difference in long-term survival between the two groups (p=0.95). When comparing long-term graft patency, one, five and nine-year patency rates for the posterior and medial approaches were 75%, 75%, 54%, and 68%, 58%, 29%, respectively. There was no difference between the two groups (p=0.46). Saphenous vein grafts were observed to remain patent longer than prosthetic materials (p=0.047).
Conclusion: Although there is no difference between medial and posterior approaches in terms of mortality and graft patency in popliteal artery aneurysm surgery, saphenous vein graft patency is superior to prosthetic grafts regardless of the surgical approach.