A new porous tracheal prosthesis sealed with collagen sponge

We have designed a new tracheal prosthesis to overcome problems with an earlier device, which included stenosis and exposure of its constituent mesh. A polypropylene mesh cylinder, reinforced with a polypropylene spiral, is sealed with collagen sponge made from porcine dermal collagen. Using this prosthesis, we performed cervical tracheal reconstructions on 11 dogs. Three dogs died within 3 months of reconstruction. Their causes of death were anesthetic accident, diarrhea, and suffocation, respectively. Bronchoscopically, the inner surface of the prosthesis was almost covered with host tissue by 2 months. However, in one dog, a relatively large area of the mesh was exposed in the tracheal lumen at 6 months; a smaller area was exposed in two other dogs. The appearance of the inner surface rapidly became lustrous, and central stenosis was not significant, even after 12 months. Histologically, an incomplete epithelial lining at 6 months was seen on the reconstructed surface and included ciliated columnar, cuboidal, and squamous epithelium. These observations have revealed that this prosthesis has high biocompatibility and the potential to overcome problems of stenosis of the prosthesis lumen. However, because ulceration persists with this prosthesis, additional improvement is needed to reduce the incidence of mesh exposure.