ABSTRACT
Chronic wounds of the lower extremity are frequent causes of osteomyelitis and amputation
in patients with peripheral vascular disease. Advances in vascular surgical techniques,
allowing distal arterial bypass via synthetic grafts or autogenous vein grafts, have
significantly increased the frequency of limb salvage. In the last two decades, this
increasing success has contributed to an even greater rate of extremity salvage. The
authors report a case of attempted limb preservation, using a combination of macrovascular
poly-tetrafluoroethylene (Goretex) grafting, reverse saphenous vein interposition,
and vein-patch angioplasty, to facilitate microvascular free-tissue transfer.
