Bakteriophagen in der Gefäßchirurgie – ein alternativer kurativer Therapieansatz bei Graft-Infektionen

Vascular graft infections pose as severe complications in vascular surgery and are linked to high morbidity and mortality. Guidelines recommend resection of infected grafts and concomitant autologous reconstruction, though redo-surgery might not always be reasonable in high-risk patients with significant comorbidities. Additionally, conservative antibiotic treatment is hindered by increasing antibiotic resistance rates and biofilm formation.Bacteriophages are viruses that selectively infect and eradicate bacteria and are therefore a promising anti-infective therapeutic strategy. Though the therapeutic potential of bacteriophages has been known since the early 20th century, in western medicine only a few clinical studies on bacteriophage treatment in infectious diseases exist to date.This review aims to outline history, biology and challenges of bacteriophage therapy. It summarizes 9 cases published in literature as case reports or small case series in which the treatment of vascular graft infections with bacteriophages is used to circumvent high-risk graft explantation surgery.