AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF MODIFIED COMPOSITE GRAFT

Abstract

For the purpose to control the intimal hyperplasia (IH) which is prone to occur at the graft to graft composing site, we devised newly a modified composite graft (MCG). Two segments of Biograft and autogenous vein, composing site of the latter was tanned with 1% glutaraldehyde intraoperatively, were anastomosed together and implanted in the infrarenal abdominal aorta of canine. After completion of the implantas, the composite site of the MCG was covered using a strip of Biograft. The longest period of 33 months after implantation, we observed IH at the proximal anastomotic site of the MCG, but no hyperplastic change of the intima was found at the composing site of the two graft segment. Microscopically, a thin endothelial layer from the distal anastomotic site covered the MCG beyond the composing site proximally to the segment of Biograft. The excessive tissue reaction was controlled successfully by GA processing and by covering of the composing site using impermeable material such as a strip of Biograft. We conclude that the modified composite graft can improve the success rate of small artery reconstruction using a prosthetic material.