Introduction:

Vascular bypass surgery in children differs significantly from adults. It is a rarely performed procedure in the setting of trauma and tumor surgery to facilitate limb salvage. Beside the technical challenges to reconstruct the small and spastic vessels, bypass grafting should not impede growth of the extremity. The primary aim of this study was to assess long-term outcome after pediatric bypass grafting, in a single academic center, focusing on potential effects on limb development.

Methods:

In this retrospective cohort analyses we included all pediatric patients undergoing vascular bypass grafting at the Medical University of Vienna between 2002-2017. All patients ≤ 18 years suffered a traumatic injury or underwent a tumor resection of the lower or upper limb, respectively. The youngest female patient was 0.4 years, the youngest male patient was 3.5 years.

Inclusion Criteria:

• age <18 years
• planned vascular bypass grafting

Exclusion Criteria:

• age >18 years
• no vascular intervention

This study represents a retrospective cohort analysis of pediatric patients who underwent vascular bypass grafting by an experienced team of vascular surgeons at the Medical University Vienna between 2002-2017.

All data regarding demographics, operative techniques and outcome were collected from the in-hospital database registry in collaboration with the Department of Orthopedics and Trauma-Surgery. All patients ≤ 18 years who suffered a traumatic injury or vascular surgery due to a planned orthopedic extremity tumor resection were included in this study. 33 patients underwent vascular repair, a total of 15 patients fulfilling the criteria could be identified.