Vein grafting with telescoping anastomoses for repair of a double‐cut artery

The rat femoral artery was cut in two places, and the telescoping anastomosis technique was used for all vascular repairs in combination with vein grafting, to determine whether the telescoping technique could safely be used more than three times for repair of an artery that has been injured at two places. One cut was repaired with vein grafting, and the other with either a telescoping anastomosis (the triple group) or with a second vein grafting (the quadruple group). The patency rate 3 weeks postoperatively was 86.4% for the triple group, and 90.5% for the quadruple group. Although tension of the repaired vessel was kept low by vein grafting, and deformities of the inserted vessel were carefully minimized, the patency rate was not 100%. It appears that a telescoping anastomosis should not be used more than three times on the same artery in combination with vein grafting. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. MICROSURGERY 22:335–338 2002