Objective: To treat thromboangiitis obliterans by the way of transverse tibial bone transport and vessel regeneration operation.
Methods: a longitudinal osteotomy in the middle tibial bone (120 mm long, 20 mm wide) was prepared and then a bone external fixator which was able to move bone block was fixed. 5 days after the operation, the bone block was moved 1 mm transversely each day until the bone block was moved to 22 mm. Two months after the operation, the bone external fixator was removed.
Results: From the beginning of the bone transprort, the symptoms of cool sensation of leg, the tingling of foot, and the intermittent claudication became better and disappeared gradually. 25 days after the operation, it was proved that the rich vessels surrounding the bone block which was moved had been formed by the angiography. Before the operation the middle and the small vessels beneath the arteriae poplitea disappeared.
Conclusion: the result acquired from the animal experiment was as same as the result acquired from the clinica practice. Today, this method is the most effective one to treat the peripheral chronic artery obliterations.