Experimental Study of a New Vascular Anastomotic Technique in a Swine Model: Short and Mid-Term Results

This study reports the development of a new open external vascular stent: the lock stent device (LSD). It enables a novel end-to-end sleeve anastomotic technique, named locked anastomosis (LA). The LA technique consists of inserting a graft sleeve within an artery, secured in place by an internal stent and an external LSD. The internal stent, graft, vessel wall, and LSD are fastened together with single sutures. The LSD placement does not require a complete transection of the vessel wall as it can be enlarged and then relaxed to clasp the vessel neck. The tensile strength of the LA technique was accurately measured ex vivo and its stability successfully tested in vivo by acute pressure peak tests and mid-term survival studies. Ex vivo, the ratio between the tensile strength of the LA technique with two, three, and six stitches and that of hand-sewn anastomoses was 0.41 ± 0.02, 0.59 ± 0.17, and 1.03 ± 0.04. In vivo, LA anastomoses tolerated marked increases in blood pressure (peak systolic pressure 195-230 mm Hg) for periods of 15-25 min without leakage. Five pigs survived 10 weeks with abdominal aorto-aortic bypass performed according to the LA technique with three stitches. Aortograms showed no narrowing or thromboses, and histological findings confirm uniform flattening of the aortic wall at the anastomosis, with proliferating neointima and uniformly hypotrophic media. Minimal changes were observed in the adventitia.