The acute and chronic effects of G-lasing on femoral vein grafts in dogs

Each year, 5 % of all coronary artery bypass operations are repeat procedures, and 15 % -30 % of coronary artery vein grafts occlude within the first eighteen months postoperatively. To evaluate the macroscopic and histologic effects of G-lasing on vein grafts and their patency, femoral veins were used to bypass bilaterally induced stenoses of femoral arteries in 10 dogs. The left vein grafts were G-lased with a 1.5 mm, hot-tipped argon laser at 5 watts for ninety seconds, while the right grafts were used as the controls.Acutely, each vein graft demonstrated no evidence of charring or perforation. The percentage of endothelium present in the G-lased vein grafts was consistently less than 5 %, whereas the control vein grafts had an average of 70%. After ten weeks, the animals were sacrificed, and the vein grafts were evaluated for histologic changes and patency. There were no significant microscopic differences between the G-lased and control vein grafts. A statistically significant difference in graft pat...