The technical success and subsequent durability of crural angioplasty are limited compared with bypass surgery, but the clinical benefit is acceptable because limb salvage rates are equivalent to bypass surgery. Further studies are necessary to determine the proper role of infrapopliteal angioplasty.

The great saphenous vein performs better than polytetrafluoroethylene in femoropopliteal bypass grafting and should be used whenever possible.

When the greater saphenous vein is unavailable, alternate autologous veins are preferable to other graft materials in bypass surgery to infrapopliteal arteries.

The popliteal-to-distal vein bypass is a tool of high efficiency in the treatment of severe, chronic critical ischemia in the lower extremity.

Limb salvage can be achieved in most end-stage renal disease patients who undergo bypass surgery for critical ischemia, but survival is poor. To avoid early amputation despite a patent graft, bypass grafting should not be offered to patients with a great amount of tissue loss or extensive infection.