title: Expandable external support device to improve Saphenous Vein Graft Patency after CABG.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Low patency rates of saphenous vein grafts remain a major predicament in surgical revascularization. We examined a novel expandable external support device designed to mitigate causative factors for early and late graft failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  For this study, fourteen adult sheep underwent cardiac revascularization using two vein grafts for each; one to the LAD and the other to the obtuse marginal artery. One graft was supported with the device while the other served as a control. Target vessel was alternated between consecutive cases. The animals underwent immediate and late angiography and were then sacrificed for histopathologic evaluation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the fourteen animals studied, three died peri-operatively (unrelated to device implanted), and ten survived the follow-up period. Among surviving animals, three grafts were thrombosed and one was occluded, all in the control group (p = 0.043). Quantitative angiographic evaluation revealed no difference between groups in immediate level of graft uniformity, with a coefficient-of-variance (CV%) of 7.39 in control versus 5.07 in the supported grafts, p = 0.082. At 12 weeks, there was a significant non-uniformity in the control grafts versus the supported grafts (CV = 22.12 versus 3.01, p < 0.002). In histopathologic evaluation, mean intimal area of the supported grafts was significantly lower than in the control grafts (11.2 mm^2 versus 23.1 mm^2 p < 0.02).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The expandable SVG external support system was found to be efficacious in reducing SVG's non-uniform dilatation and neointimal formation in an animal model early after CABG. This novel technology may have the potential to improve SVG patency rates after surgical myocardial revascularization.
authors: Yanai
authors: Y
authors: Ben-Gal
authors: David P
authors: DP
authors: Taggart
authors: Mathew R
authors: MR
authors: Williams
authors: Eyal
authors: E
authors: Orion
authors: Gideon
authors: G
authors: Uretzky
authors: Rona
authors: R
authors: Shofti
authors: Shmuel
authors: S
authors: Banai
authors: Liad
authors: L
authors: Yosef
authors: Gil
authors: G
authors: Bolotin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017023:Coronary Angiography; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000601:surgery*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D012501:Saphenous Vein / Q000502:physiology / Q000637:transplantation*; D012756:Sheep; D014654:Vascular Patency
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