Thrombolysis of occluded arterial bypass grafts

Abstract

Seventy-eight patients with 87 thrombosed grafts or arteries were treated by direct intraarterial infusion of streptokinase or urokinase. Initial success rate in treatment of occluded grafts (60%) was nearly identical to native artery occlusion (63%), and nearly twice as high for urokinase (76%) compared with streptokinase (43%). There was no statistically significant difference in complication rates between native vessel occlusion and thrombosed grafts, or between urokinase- and streptokinase-treated groups. Nineteen of 29 grafts (66%) remain patent after an average 11-month followup.