Microvascular anastomosis using cyanoacrylate adhesives.

This paper describes a new technique for microvascular anastomosis, which involves the overlapping of the adventitias of the two ends of a severed blood vessel, and then painting a cyanoacrylate adhesive on the outer surface of the vessel around the anastomosed part. Sixteen anastomoses were performed in both radial arteries and cephalic veins in eight dogs. All vessels were patent without thrombus. The described method of anastomosis was faster and easier to perform than the conventional suture anastomosis. Histologic studies revealed that the adhesive did not flow into the lumen, and that normal healing of the endothelium and of the internal elastic lamina occurred across the anastomotic site, even though the adhesive remained on the adventitial side of the vessel at 4 weeks. This technique deserves to be considered as an alternative to conventional suture anastomosis.