[Animal experiment studies on vascular wall injuries causing early vein-transplant thrombosis]

Veno-venous autotransplantations of the jugular veins of dogs were performed. The grafts remained patent if an endothelium preserving technique was applied for the dissection of the veins as well as for the anastomotic procedure. The endothelium preserving surgical technique consists in avoiding touching the veins by the hand of the surgeon, by instruments and by swabs. Also the retraction of the severed ends of the vein and of the graft should be avoided as well as the conglutination of the lumina. For this purpose the ends of the veins are kept in extension by atraumatic holding sutures. A progressive shrinking of the anastomotic region was never observed. Moderate stenoses, sometimes seen the first days after the transplantation, regularly disappeared a few weeks later. Ten autografts remained patent without systemic anticoagulation and without creating an arterio-venous fistula.