Preserved arterial grafts in microvascular surgery.

The patency rates of arterial grafts preserved by immersion in 70% alcohol and arterial grafts preserved by ficin digestion and dialdehyde tanning were compared with the patency rate of fresh autogenous vein grafts in 5-mm defects in the femoral arteries of 50 rats. The overall patency rate for the fresh vein grafts was 90%. The patency rate at 2 weeks for the alcohol-preserved arterial grafts was 40%; the patency rate for the dialdehyde-tanned arterial grafts at 2 weeks was 30%. The difference between the rates for the fresh vein grafts and the alcohol-preserved and dialdehyde-tanned grafts was statistically significant (P less than 0.01 and P less than 0.001, respectively). At 2 months there was no statistically significant difference in the rates between the autogenous vein grafts and the preserved arterial grafts, probably because of recanalization of grafts that had occluded primarily. From the data, it is concluded that fresh autogenous vein grafts are still superior to preserved arterial grafts in microvascular surgery.