title: Presence of calcium in the vessel walls after end-to-end arterial anastomoses with polydioxanone and polypropylene sutures in growing dogs.
abstract: The presence of calcium in the vessel walls after end-to-end arterial anastomoses performed with polydioxanone and polypropylene interrupted sutures was studied in 140 anastomoses in 35 10-week-old German shepherd dogs. Histologic examination with hematoxylin and eosin, van Gieson, and von Kossa staining techniques was performed after the animals were killed 6 months after the operation. Ketamine hydrochloride was used as an anesthetic agent. At the start of the investigation the dogs weighed 14.5 +/- 2.6 kg (mean +/- standard deviation, n = 35), and after 6 months they weighed 45.3 +/- 3.1 kg (mean +/- standard deviation, n = 35). The diameter of the sutured arteries in the first operation was 2.6 +/- 0.5 mm (mean +/- standard deviation, n = 140). With each dog, both brachial and both femoral arteries were used--one artery for each different type of suture. In different dogs, different arteries were used for the same type of suture. The prevalence of calcifications after 6 months was determined from the numeric density of calcifications with standard stereologic techniques. The sutured and sutureless parts taken from longitudinal sections from each artery were studied, and t test values were calculated as follows: In paired samples, statistically significant differences in numerical density of calcifications were seen between sutured and sutureless arterial parts for both materials (sutureless part versus part with polydioxanone sutures, p < 0.001, n = 70; sutureless part versus part sutured with polypropylene sutures, p < 0.01, n = 70); however, in independent samples no statistically significant differences in numerical density of calcifications were seen between the polydioxanone and polypropylene groups for sutured (p > 0.05, n = 70) and sutureless parts (p > 0.05, n = 70).
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University Medical Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gersak
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000378:metabolism*; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000209:etiology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism*; D004285:Dogs; D016687:Polydioxanone; D011126:Polypropylenes; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013537:Sutures
chemical_list: D011126:Polypropylenes; D016687:Polydioxanone; D002118:Calcium