1990 Volume 19 Issue 3 Pages 1194-1197
We evaluated the safety of a new antithrombogenic cardiac wall substitute composed of collagen-coated ultrafine polyester mesh cross-linked by a hydrophilic polyepoxy compound (CUFP), from the long-term results of animal experiments. The CUFPs were implanted as patches in the right ventricular outflow tract in 20 dogs. Almost no thrombi were attached to the inner surface of the CUFP up to 28 days after implantation, and a neointima, which was almost completely endothelialized, had been formed. Fibroblasts and vasa vasorum were seen inside both the neointima and the graft wall. At 168 days, transmission electron microscopy revealed smooth muscle-like cells in the neointima with endothelialization. The CUFP at 486 days had maintained a white, shiny, smooth, thin and uniform neointima with endothelialization. Neither ulcer nor thrombus formation was seen on the surface. The CUFP, which thus became a kind of host organ with a framework of ultrafine polyester fiber, metabolizes in the host body. Therefore, we believe that there is little possibility of subsequent degeneration over the long-term and the CUFP maintains the neointima formed on its surface.
