Suture retention strength of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) graft.
Our meticulous investigation of ePTFE graft breakage when a wire placed at the edge of an ePTFE graft was pulled, revealed that, depending on the breakage pattern, a break starts much earlier than the peak suture retention strength, which is the current international indicator for anastomotic-site break strength. Furthermore, the breakage patterns differ based on the thickness of the wire and the fiber direction of the ePTFE graft. Based on these findings, we advocate measuring the peak suture retention strength using 0.10-mm sutures and a standardized wire thickness in order to assess the anastomotic retention strength of ePTFE grafts.
Mine
Yoshinari
Y
Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Mitsui
Hideya
H
Oshima
Yu
Y
Noishiki
Yasuharu
Y
Nakai
Mikizo
M
Sano
Shunji
S
D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D013537:Sutures; D013718:Tensile Strength
D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene