Construction of fresh autogenous arterial grafts. III. Concluding (three-year survival) studies on splenic artery fabricated grafts in aorta.

AN EXPERIMENTAL program was initiated in this laboratory in November, 1950, to investigate the feasibility of bridging a gap in the aorta by a graft fabricated from segments of an expendable autogenous artery. Preliminary observations, including one-year survival studies reported before this society, indicated satisfactory functional and anatomical results. Biological superiority over homografts or heterografts, either fresh or preserved by any of the available methods, was attested by survival of the muscle cells and elastic laminae of the media, with no evidence of calcification.* Two dogs maintained for three years with similar grafts form the basis for these concluding observations. EXPERIMENTAL METHOD The method has been amply described and illustrated in the publications previously referred to. In a series of large mongrel dogs, a generous length of splenic artery was resected, incised longitudinally, and divided transversely into equal segments. The lateral margins of these panels were sutured together, creating a