title: Suture retention strength of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) graft.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshinari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mine
authors.forename: Hideya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mitsui
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oshima
authors.forename: Yasuharu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Noishiki
authors.forename: Mikizo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakai
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sano
mesh_terms: D001807:Blood Vessel Prosthesis; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene; D013537:Sutures; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D011138:Polytetrafluoroethylene