Heparinization on pericardial substitutes can reduce adhesion and epicardial inflammation in the dog.
OBJECTIVE
Primary concerns about currently available pericardial substitutes include adhesion and epicardial reaction. The purpose of this study is to evaluate host reaction to pericardial substitutes with and without incorporating slow heparin release.


METHODS
To avoid biologic variation among these pericardial patches, we made a composite of six membranes. The composite membrane consisted of epoxy-fixed patches with (1) or without (2) ionically bound heparin, a glutaraldehyde-fixed patch with (3) or without (4) ionically bound heparin, an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch (5), and a polyester polymeric patch (6). Ten recipient dogs weighing from 12 to 19 kg (mean 13.6 kg) were used to assess the composite membranes as pericardial substitutes. The implanted composite membranes were retrieved 1 week (one dog), 2 weeks (one dog), 4 weeks (one dog), 8 weeks (one dog), and 12 weeks (six dogs) after implantation.


RESULTS
Overall, the synthetic patches had a more notable inflammatory reaction than the biologic patches with or without ionically bound heparin. The heparin-bound patches caused significantly less inflammation than their nonheparinized counterparts. The heparinized porcine patches cross-linked with different compounds were found to have less fibrous formation than the nonheparinized patches and the synthetic patches.


CONCLUSIONS
Heparinized pericardial substitutes may cause less adhesion and inflammatory reaction than nonheparinized material.
Lu
J H
JH
Section of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, National Central University, Taiwan.
Chang
Y
Y
Sung
H W
HW
Chiu
Y T
YT
Yang
P C
PC
Hwang
B
B
D000818:Animals; D000925:Anticoagulants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004285:Dogs; D004853:Epoxy Resins; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005976:Glutaral / Q000494:pharmacology; D006493:Heparin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010493:Pericarditis / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010496:Pericardium / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology / Q000637:transplantation; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation; D013552:Swine; D000267:Tissue Adhesions / Q000517:prevention & control; D016707:Tissue Fixation; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
D000925:Anticoagulants; D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D004853:Epoxy Resins; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D006493:Heparin; D005976:Glutaral