Experience with a new woven prosthesis

The search for the ideal vascular graft is a dream that has eluded surgeons for centuries. Since the introduction of the fabric vascular prosthesis in 1952 by Voorhees, Jaretzki, and Blakemore, a wide variety of materials and designs have been tested. Dacron has withstood the test of time in both the knitted and woven types. Each of these graft designs has its own advantages and disadvantages, but we believe that the interlock construction of the Ochsner series grafts provides a solution to the problems associated with the earlier woven grafts while maintaining the advantages of the woven construction: (1) unraveling has been eliminated, and fraying has been reduced by the use of the interlock stitch; (2) the graft has been made soft and pliable by using three low-twist yarns, avoiding chemical impaction of the yarns, and utilizing a loose crimp; and (3) nonfixation of the pseudo-intima has been corrected by using low-twist, highly filamentous yarns which allow ingrowth of tissue for good fixation.