- Discussion:
- indicated when there is vessel size discrepancy or when sacrifice of donor vessel in free tissue transfer is not desirable;
- end to side anastomosis preserves blood flow to distal part of the limb;
- end-to-side anastomosis is more difficult technically;
- esp making of the arteriotomy is considered demanding, unless only single incision is made;
- Technique:
- side of the recipitent vessel is prepared by elliptical excision;
- end of the donor vessel is beveled to produce an angle of 30-45 deg or less for arterial anastomosis;
- donor vessel or graft is beveled to create an elliptical orifice at least twice its diameter;
- length of this orifice is matched to the length of arteriotomy in recipient vessel;
- begin by placing sutures at proximal & distal ends of ellipse;
- leave suture ends long for traction and complete the anastomosis by placing sutures evenly along the opening between traction sutures;
- horizontal matress suture is placed at the heel and toe of anastomosis;
- after passage through the artery, the needles are passed through small pledgets of Teflon felt to reinforce these critical areas;
- after matress sutures are tied, a needle from each end is used to run the suture line down to the middle of each side of anastomosis, where they are tied together;
- release the occluding clamps or release the tourniquet and assess patency and flow;
- guide sutures are placed at 180 deg apart from each other, oriented in such a way that a right hand wall and a left hand wall are created, this avoids the difficulty of a front wall and a back wall situation;
- begin w/ interrupted sutures;
- smaller vessel is then flipped & opposite side wall is then sutured