ABC of vascular diseases. Late complications of arterial grafts.

* The graft blocks (ischaemia) after the patient has been discharged from hospital, and so are presented * Late disruption around the anastomosis firstly to the general practitioner. (true and false aneurysms) Saphenous nerve damage is relatively common and may result in * The graft sends off showers of thrombi paraesthesia or numbness on the lower medial thigh. Femoral nerve damage (emboli) is mnuch less common but tiore serious, with weakness of the knee flexor * The graft becomes colonised with micromuscles. The damage is usually reversible if it has been caused by retraction organisms (infection) of the nerve during dissection. Carbamazepine or transcutaneous nerve * An intra-abdominal graft may erode stimulation may be useful for patients with severe unrelenting symptoms, adjacent viscera (usually aortoenteric but in most people symptoms resolve rapidly and reassurance is all that is