Background: The most common materials of artificial blood vessels are polyethylene terephthalate and polytetrafluoroethylene. But polycarbonate polyurethane (PCU) is an ideal material for vascular prostheses because of their excellent characteristics. As far as we know, our artificial blood vessel is the first type of hybrid PCU/polyester three-layered large-diameter artificial blood vessel in the world.
Objective: The purpose of this preclinical animal experiment is to evaluate the hemocompatibility, histocompatibility, effectiveness, and safety of the three-layered large-diameter artificial blood vessel in sheep.
Methods: The artificial blood vessels took place of the initial segments of the sheep's thoracic aorta by end-to-end anastomosis.
Results: All of the 14 sheep are male, their average body weight (BW) was 30.57 ± 3.95 kg. All 14 artificial blood vessels successfully replaced the thoracic aortas. 5 sheep did not survive to the end of the experiment, while the remaining 9 sheep did. After the surgery, the blood biochemical and blood routine indicators fluctuate slightly within the normal range. The angiography showed that the implanted artificial blood vessels were unobstructed without obvious stenosis or expansion. 24 weeks after surgery, the lumen surfaces of the artificial blood vessels were covered by endothelia in different degrees, and the average endothelialization rate was 69.44% (range: 20% to 100%).
Conclusions: This artificial blood vessel is the first to use PCU in large-diameter artificial vascular grafts. It has excellent blood compatibility, wonderful biocompatibility, high endothelialization rate, and 100% patency.
Keywords: Artificial blood vessel; polycarbonate polyurethane; three-layered artificial blood vessel.