Telescoping and glue technique in vein grafts for arterial defects.

Fibrin glue was applied at the anastomotic site of the vein graft that was placed in rat femoral artery defects by the telescoping anastomotic technique at both proximal and distal anastomoses. All 35 vein grafts thus placed were patent, yielding a statistically higher patency rate than those placed in the same femoral artery by the same telescoping anastomotic technique but without fibrin glue. The telescoping anastomotic technique assisted by fibrin glue appears to give as reliable a patency rate as the conventional method even if it is used twice, both at the proximal and distal anastomoses, in autogenous vein grafting for arterial defects. Deformities of the inserted vessel should be minimized for patency by some means such as an application of fibrin glue so that the inserted vessel does not bulge under high arterial pressure.