A prospective study of surgical revascularization in patients of buerger's disease from North India

Introduction: Buerger's disease, also known as thromboangiitis obliterans (TAO), is vasculitis of small- and medium-sized arteries and veins, which may involve both upper and lower extremities. It is strongly related to smoking and fairly common in the Indian subcontinent. Diagnosis is based on history, clinical examination, and angiography. The single most important modality of treatment is smoking cessation. As only few patients have suitable anatomy for surgical revascularization, the aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and outcome of surgical revascularization in TAO patients of North India. Methods: This is a prospective observational study involving 50 patients of TAO diagnosed by modified Shionoya criteria who underwent surgical revascularization. Computed tomographic angiography was done in all patients to see their suitability for surgical revascularization. Graft patency at 6 months postsurgery, pre- and post-operative ankle–brachial pressure index (ABPI), and visual analog scale (VAS) score for pain were calculated and compared. Results: All patients were male bidi smokers, with a mean age of 29.8 ± 9.5 years. Intermittent claudication was present in 42%, rest pain in 58%, and ulcer in 40%. Most common area of blockage was tibioperoneal trunk (62%) and tibial arteries (52%). The most frequent bypass procedure was popliteotibial done in 32 (64%) patients, followed by femoropopliteal bypass in 8 (16%) patients. Majority of our patients were symptom free at 6 months postsurgery. The mean VAS score for pain at the time of presentation was 6.08 ± 1.77, which decreased to 1.62 ± 1.23 at the end of 6 months. The mean preoperative ABPI was 0.45 ± 0.12 which improved to 0.73 ± 0.09 at 6 months postsurgery. A total of 46 (92%) limbs were salvaged while overall our graft patency rate was 70% at 6 months. Conclusion: We conclude that surgical revascularization is feasible in properly selected patients of TAO with acceptable results.