THE USE OF HOMOLOGOUS VEIN AS AN ARTERIAL CONDUIT, PATENCY RATES AND HISTOPATHOLOGIC CHARACTERISTICS, IN AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Type of graft is among most important factors for long term patency in bypass surgery. Despite degenerative process in long period, highest patency rate was achieved with autologous vein grafts. in patients with no available autologous vein graft, ho­ mologuus veins could be an alternative grafts to synthetic grafts. Effects of different preparation and preserving met­ hods(cryopreservation, fresh wet strored, e.g.) on patency rates, are most popular subjects of interest.

This study performed to evaluate the short term results of the usage of the canine homologous vein grafts which was prepa­ red in our laboratory by using " fresh wet stored" method. in the study group(n:8) homologous vein grafts preparing with "fresh wet stored" were used, while in the control group(n: 7) autologous vein grafts were used.

There was no statistically significant differnce between the patency rates of homografts prepared with "fresh wet stored" tech­ nique and autologous vein grafts( %87 vs %71, p>0.05) after the follow-up period of approximately 3 weeks.

We decided that especially in small diameters homografts veins have better results than prosthetic grafts in the absence of autograft veins. Further studies on preserving methods are necessary to determine long term response of immune defence ı;nechanism.