Twenty-eight patients with total occlusion of the infrarenal aorta have been seen at the UCLA Hospitals in the past 11 years. Claudication was the presenting complaint in all but one patient, with one-third having ischemic rest pain. The average age of these patients was 54 years, and their histories revealed a surprising absence of myocardial infarction, stroke, or diabetes, although 40% had essential hypertension. Heavy tobacco use, however, was characteristic of the entire group. Arteriography proved valuable in identifying and characterizing the vascular abnormalities, but posed problems in technique and interpretation. Significant distal arterial disease was detected radiographically in only 21% of these patients. Operative correction of the aortic occlusion was performed on 26 patients, 18 by aortic bypass grafts and eight by aorto-iliac endarterectomy, with one early postoperative death. Although the thrombus extended to the renal artery origins in 77% of the cases, a well-designed technical approach did not require renal artery occlusion. Using serial creatinine determinations, one case of renal insufficiency was detected which was associated with prolonged postoperative hypotension. Although the extent of distal disease was more severe in those who underwent bypass, symptoms of claudication returned earlier and were more prominent in the endarterectomy group. This recurrence of systems was not favorably altered by sympathectomy performed concomitantly with the initial procedure. Even though this condition seems to pose difficult technical obstacles and has a poor prognosis, infrarenal aortic occlusion can be successfully treated by aortic bypass, with favorable long-term results, if particular attention is paid to elements of the preoperative evaluation and the intraoperative technical requirements peculiar to this relatively uncommon disease entity.