A Preliminary Investigation of Dermal Heterografts (Leather) as Prostheses for Vascular Defects

Since the advent of blood-vessel resection in surgical procedures, methods of restoring vascular continuity have become of paramount importance. Such methods have been numerous and varied, and indeed are still the subject of considerable study. That the ideal vascular prosthesis has not yet been realized is suggested by a review of the diverse and sundry substances that have been employed and their various faults. A partial list of nonviable materials that have been utilized as vascular prostheses includes magnesium,^19,26 ivory,²⁵ aluminum,^3-5 goldplated metals,^3-5 silver tubes coated with paraffin,^22,34,35 glass,^3-5,24 siliconized rubber,¹¹ absorbable fibrin,³³ and stainless steel.¹ More recently attention has been directed toward synthetic plastic materials such as Teflon,⁷ Saran,⁷ Dacron,^7,8 Orlon,^{15,21,17, 18,7,28,37} Lucite,^9,16 Vinyon,^{2,6,21,15,13,7,8,36} nylon,^{30,31,10,7,27,29} polyvinyl formalinized sponge (Ivalon),^14,20,32 and polyethylene.^9,12,23 Numerous varieties of fresh, fixed, or frozen vascular auto-,