Tensile strength of arterial prosthetic anastomoses

Abstract

A method of accurately measuring the tensile strength of an arterial prosthetic anastomosis is described. By performing one anastomosis with an absorbable suture and the other with a Dacron suture, the contribution of fibrous tissue ingrowth and encapsulation was separately measured 4.5 months following implantation and was found to be only one-half as strong as the permanently sutured anastomosis. We concluded from the study that a permanent suture was ultimately the most important factor in anastomotic tensile strength because of the two-fold increase in tensile strength over fibrous tissue alone, and the fact that the anastomosis with permanent sutures was stronger than the artery itself. When the graft was removed no collagenase was found at the anastomosis, suggesting that collagen at the graft-artery interface is relatively stable and that little or no collagen turnover is taking place.