[SEM image analysis of endothelial cells of autogenous vein grafts]

The autogenous veins of 17 dogs were distended with 40kPa, 80kPa and 120kPa pressure prior to grafting to femoral arteries respectively. The sections were harvested immediately, and after 1 week, 4 and 16 weeks and inspected with SEM. The endothelial cells of grafted veins were studied with an image analysis system. The results showed that the desquamation extent of intimal layer correlated positively with pressure. 80 and 120kPa caused relatively severe damage to the endothelium, which was significantly different from that of control group (P < 0.05). We conclude that preimplantation distention of vein grafts should be employed with less than 80kPa pressure, and 120kPa can never be used in clinic, as it adversely affects the course of reendotheli alization. The distention did not make a notable impact to graft patency rate as demonstrated in this experiment.