History of (micro) vascular surgery and the development of small-caliber blood vessel prostheses (with some notes on patency rates and re-endothelialization).

The historical development of vascular surgery is reviewed from ancient times (Ruphus of Ephesus, Aëtius of Amida) to recent developments (sutured anastomosis by Carrel). Attempts to anastomose blood vessels by means of nonsuturing technique, using a ring or short tube of diverse materials called prostheses, were undertaken at the start of this century and continued until shortly after World War II. With the advent of modern polymeric materials, prostheses of different types, sizes, structures, and fabrics have been used to substitute for blood vessels, both experimentally and clinically. Recently, blood vessel prostheses with small (1-1.5 mm) internal diameters became available and have been implanted experimentally. Patency rates, biophysical and structural properties, the re-endothelialization and the neointima formation of several types of microvascular prostheses are briefly reviewed.