Compliance of Textile Vascular Prostheses Is a Fleeting Reality.

OBJECTIVE: Compliance is considered to be a major property influencing the long term performances of synthetic vascular substitutes that could play a role in anastomotic false aneurysm and intimal hyperplasia stenosis onset. Over the last decades, manufacturers have tried to develop substitutes that mechanically mimic arterial properties and avoid a compliance mismatch at the anastomoses in particular. However, data are missing about how initial compliance properties could change with time. The goal of this study was to evaluate how the compliance of vascular grafts evolves under cyclic loading conditions in vitro. METHODS: The compliance of three different models of commercially available textile polyethylene terephthalate (PET) grafts was evaluated. Tests were performed with and without their original coating. Compliance was assessed with a specific device dedicated to measure the deformations undergone by a graft under cyclic pressure loading conditions, using image analysis software. In each experiment, image analysis was performed under 60 and 140 mmHg pressure loading conditions at loading start (H0) and after three, six, and 24 h (H3, H6, H24) loading time. Average radial, longitudinal, and volumetric compliance was calculated from the obtained images. RESULTS: Twenty-four samples were tested. Results demonstrate that all values decreased significantly within only a few hours. On average, the loss of compliance after 3 h of cyclic loading ranged on average from 35% for longitudinal compliance to 39% for radial compliance and 37% (p < .050) for volume compliance. After 24 h, the loss of radial, longitudinal and volume compliance was respectively 63 ± 3%, 60.5 ± 2% and 61 ± 7%. CONCLUSION: In this in vitro model, PET graft compliance has already decreased significantly within 3 h. The rapid loss of compliance identified in this experimental study helps explain the mismatch mentioned in clinical observations.

Relation between tensile tests and compliance in polyester textile vascular prostheses.

BACKGROUND: Compliance is one of the mechanical features of a vascular prosthesis (VP) that influences its performances. The goal of the present in vitro study was to attempt characterizing textile VP compliance through mechanical tests proposed in the standards. METHODS: Three different models of commercially available knitted VP (P1, P2, and P3) were studied using longitudinal and circumferential traction tests on coated and uncoated samples. Five samples of each model were considered for each test. The Young modulus was then calculated to indirectly predict the longitudinal and radial compliance of the VP. Moreover, actual compliance was measured on a specific device that regulates the intraluminal pressure of a fluid maintained in the tested VP at 37°C. VP dilatation under pressure load was measured with a digital camera system. RESULTS: The Young modulus variations from one VP to the other were compared with the differences between effective compliance values at radial, longitudinal, and volume level. Although the presented results show differences among the VP, one can observe that the graft materials' Young modulus and the compliance properties are linked together in general. CONCLUSIONS: Although VPs are subjected to multidirectional stresses ex vivo, unidirectional standard mechanical tests, through the measurement of the materials Young modulus, can help predicting their compliance, however, in a limited frame.