Blood flow study of arteriovenous grafts with homologous and autologous veins in canine femoral vessels.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to assess the blood flow in arteriovenous (AV) communications comparing autologous and homologous veins, in the femoral vessels of dogs. METHODS: Ten mongrel dogs were used for the blood flow analysis, and two AV grafts (AVG) were placed in each of them. The grafts were made with an autologous vein in one side, and a omologous vein, kept in a 0.25% glutaraldehyde solution, in the other side. The volumetric flow was measured before and after AVG placement. Fifteen minutes after surgery, the volumetric flow was measured in the cranial artery, in the caudal artery, in the graft and in the vein, and the same procedure was repeated 15 days after surgery. Measurements were done using an eletromagnetic flowmeter calibrated previously. For data analysis, the Wilcoxon test was used (to compare the difference in the results between the times and the techniques used) alfa