ARTIFICIAL ARTERY

Typical Number in Hospital:

Cost Bands:

References: 4

The growing incidence of arterial disease, and improvements in diagnostic and treatment techniques have increased the demand for prosthetic vascular grafts, although the use of natural grafts (usually veins) is preferred where possible.

Prosthetic grafts should be seamless, have low porosity to blood, permit suturing, and be flexible but not kink.

Most existing arterial prostheses are woven or knitted and are corrugated to control kinking. However, these features disturb blood flow patterns which may cause blood clotting and deposition of other materials leading to the obstruction of the lumen.

Newer designs attempt to solve some of the these problems by the use of smooth tubing of biocompatible materials which may permit the growth of a more natural lining of the tube with consequent improvement in their long-term performance.