[Vascular biological aspects of thrombendarterectomy and alloplastic vascular replacement]

Irrespective of vascular approach and mode of repair any arterial reconstruction is charged by a procedural trauma and a desintegration of the vascular wall in its pathoanatomic structure. A number of specific repair mechanisms are set in motion by cellular and humoral mediators when non-endothelial layers get exposed to the lumen. Platelet deposition, local activation of hemostatic factors, intramural and wall-adjacent thrombus formation as well as subsequent proliferation of myofibroblasts are determinants of this process that may be characterized as a generalized wound healing response resulting in neointima formation. Exemplarily, the valency of endarterectomy and prosthetic grafting in the femoral axis is discussed on the background of recent experience in vascular biology.