Blood compatibility of venous prosthesis made of textile or non-textile material

To study blood compatibility of venous prosthesis made of textile or non-textile material, the inferior vena cava of 37 rabbits was partly replaced by 3 mm internal diameter synthetic tube graft made of textile material (T: woven tetron) or non-textile material (P: polytetrafluoroethylene). At designated time intervals after the replacement (5 hours to 4 weeks), graft patency was examined and the dry weight of intraluminal deposits was measured. The harvested grafts were then subjected to light and scanning electron microscopy. All the T-grafts were occluded as early as 5 hours after grafting but when ticlopidine was administered prior to the grafting, all the grafts were patent. All the P-grafts were patent up to 4 weeks after grafting, though the amount of intraluminal deposits was increased in a time related manner, narrowing the lumen of the grafts. The luminal surface of the P-grafts harvested at 5 hours after grafting was covered by piles of fibrin networks entrapping erythrocytes without an association of platelet aggregates, which resembles the finding in the T-grafts harvested from the ticlopidine treated rabbits. In the P-grafts, both the proximal and distal luminal surfaces near the anastomosis were fully covered with endothelial cells by 2 weeks and the entire luminal surface was covered with these cells by 4 weeks. From these results, the following conclusions were obtained; (1) P-graft was superior to T-graft for venous prosthesis, which is mainly due to the inertness of P against platelet activation. (2) Though the luminal surface of the P-grafts was completely covered with endothelial cells by 4 weeks after grafting, the lumen was markedly narrowed by intimal hyperplasia.