Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the inflammatory responses in patients who received 1 of 2 different types of woven Dacron grafts. Abdominal aortic surgery was performed in 154 patients between 2002 and 2006, and 102 patients were enrolled in this study. Sealed woven Dacron grafts (INTERGARDTM woven graft, Group I) were implanted in 77 patients and non-sealed woven Dacron grafts (UBE woven graft, Group N) were implanted in 25 patients. All patients received either a bifurcated graft or straight graft replacement. Body temperature (BT), white blood cell counts (WBC), and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were measured preoperatively and on postoperative days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 14, and were compared between the 2 groups. There were no differences in the patient's mean ages, 73±9 and 71±7 years, or operation time, 213±57 and 210±63 min, between Groups I and N, respectively. Postoperative changes in BT and WBC were similar in both groups. CRP levels were higher in Group N than Group I on postoperative days 5 and 7, but these differences were clinically insignificant. Prolonged inflammatory response which lasted longer than 2 weeks occurred in 2 patients in Group I and in 1 patient in Group N. All patients eventually returned to baseline conditions without special treatments. Thus the postoperative inflammatory responses to coated and non-coated woven Dacron grafts were similar in abdominal aortic surgery.
