Reducing intimal hyperplasia in vein grafts harvested by a no-touch harvesting technique / 西安交通大学学报·英文版

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate the effect of no-touch harvesting technique in reducing vein graft intimal hyperplasia. Methods: This longitudinal trial compared graft angiostenosis of two groups undergoing jugular vein to carotid artery interposition grafting in rabbit model. Conventional group 12 rabbits had their veins stripped, distended, and stored in heparinized saline solution. No-touch group 12 rabbits had veins removed with surrounding tissues, but were not distended, and stored in heparinized blood. The grafts were removed 4 weeks following grafting, and morphometry and immunohistochemistry assessment were performed. Results: The intimai thickness, degree of angiostenosis and proliferation index of vascular smooth muscle cells of no-touch group were significantly reduced (P<0.01) compared with those of the conventional group. The proliferating cell nuclear antigen positive-staining cells were significantly increased (P<0.01) in the conventional group compared with whose in the no-touch group. Conclusion: Harvesting the vein graft with no-touch harvesting technique could significantly reduce intimai hyperplasia of the vein graft.