End-point immobilization of heparin on plasma-treated surface of electrospun polycarbonate-urethane vascular graft.

Abstract

Vascular occlusion remains the leading cause of death all over the world, despite advances made in balloon angioplasty and conventional surgical intervention. Currently, autografts are the gold-standard grafts used to treat vascular occlusive disease. However, many patients with vascular occlusive disease do not have autologous vascular graft available. Therefore, there is a widely recognized need for a readily available, functional, small-diameter vascular graft (inner diameter of <6mm). This work addresses this critical need by developing a method of antithrombogenic modification of synthetic grafts.