Peripheral Vascular Bypass Surgery

What is peripheral vascular bypass surgery?

Peripheral vascular bypass surgery is surgery to improve blood flow when one or more of the arteries that supplies blood to a leg or arm is narrowed or blocked. A blood vessel from another part of your body or a man-made (synthetic) blood vessel, called a graft, will be used to make a detour for blood to flow through. One end of the graft will be stitched above the blockage in the artery. The other end will be stitched below the blockage. This will allow blood to bypass the blockage and provide oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the leg or arm.

How is peripheral vascular bypass surgery done?

Before the procedure:

• Your healthcare provider will ask you to sign a consent form for peripheral vascular bypass surgery. The consent form will state the reason you are having the procedure, what happens during the procedure, and what you may expect afterward.
• There is risk with every treatment or procedure. Talk to your healthcare provider for complete information about whether any of these risks apply to you:
  • Anesthesia problems
  • Bleeding
  • Blood clots
  • Infection
• Tell your healthcare provider if you have any food, medicine, or other allergies such as latex.
• Tell your healthcare provider if you are taking any medicines, including nonprescription drugs, herbal remedies, or recreational or illegal drugs.
• You will have a needle (IV) inserted into a vein in your hand or arm. This will allow medicine to be given directly into your blood and to give you fluids, if needed.

During the procedure:

• You may be given a sedative through your IV to help you to relax.
• You will be given medicine called anesthesia to keep you from feeling pain during the procedure. You may have:
  • Local anesthesia, which numbs the area where the surgery will be done.
  • Regional anesthesia, which numbs a larger area of your body. Depending on the medicine, you may be awake or asleep during the procedure.
  • General anesthesia, which relaxes your muscles and puts you into a deep sleep. It also keeps you from remembering the operation. While you are asleep, you will have a tube in your throat to help you breath and to make sure you are getting enough oxygen. The tube may be removed before you wake up after the surgery.
• You may have a small tube (catheter) placed into your bladder to drain and measure urine.
• The surgeon will make a cut in the skin above the blood vessel that is blocked.
• The graft blood vessel ends will be sewn into the areas above and below the blockage.
• The cut in your skin will be closed with stitches.

After the procedure:

• You will be checked often by nursing staff.
• There will be a dressing on the surgery site. The dressing will be checked and changed by your provider or the nursing staff as needed.
• Your provider may prescribe medicine to:
  • Treat pain
  • Treat or prevent an infection
  • Help prevent blood clots
  • Slow the heart rate and reduce the workload of the heart
  • Relax and widen blood vessels and allow blood to flow through them easier
  • Control cholesterol levels
  • Reduce fluid build-up and swelling in the body
• Your provider may recommend other types of therapy to help relieve pain, other symptoms, or side effects of treatment.
• Your blood oxygen level may be monitored by a sensor that is attached to your finger or earlobe.
• A cardiac (heart) monitor may be used to keep track of your heartbeat.

What can I do to help?

• You will need to tell your healthcare team if you have new or worsening:
  • Chest pain or pressure, squeezing, or fullness in the center of your chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back (may feel like indigestion or heartburn)
  • Pain or discomfort in one or both arms or shoulders, or in your back, neck, jaw, or stomach
  • Trouble breathing
  • Breaking out in a cold sweat for no known reason
  • Along with the previous symptoms: feeling very tired, faint, or sick to your stomach
  • Bluish color of the skin of the arm or leg below the surgery
  • Feeling like your heart is beating too fast, too slow, or skipping beats
  • Numbness in your feet or hands
  • Redness, swelling, pain, warmth, or drainage from your surgical wound
  • Fever, chills, or muscle aches
  • Warmth, redness, swelling, or pain in your leg, ankles, or feet
  • Weakness, numbness, tingling or pain in your face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of your body
• Ask questions about any medicine, treatment, or information that you do not understand.

How long will I be in the hospital?

How long you stay in the hospital depends on many things, such as your general health, why you are in the hospital, the treatment you need, and how well you recover. This is often between 5 to 7 days after you have the procedure. Talk with your provider about how long your stay may be.