Nonthrombogenic polymer vascular prosthesis.

Although many synthetic vascular grafts have been developed and evaluated experimentally or clinically, none of them have met long-term patency when applied as a small diameter vascular substitute. We have recently developed a small caliber vascular graft (3 mm i.d.) using a nonthrombogenic polymer coating. The graft consists of three layered structures: Dacron for the outer layer, polyurethane in the middle layer, and a HEMA/styrene block copolymer (HEMA-st) coating for the inner layer. HEMA-st is an amphiphilic block copolymer composed of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and styrene which has demonstrated improved blood compatibility over existing biomedical polymers in both in vitro and ex vivo experiments. Ten grafts were evaluated in a dog bilateral carotid replacement model. The grafts were electively retrieved at 7, 14, 30, 92, and 372 days after implantation. All grafts were patent without detectable thrombi along the graft length including anastomotic sites. Scanning electron micrographs of retrieved graft lumen showed fairly clean surfaces covered with a homogenous protein-like layer without microthrombi or endothelial cell lining. The thickness of the surface protein layer measured by a transmission electron microscopy was what can be described as monolayer protein adsorption regardless of implantation periods of as much as 372 days. A stable monolayer adsorbed protein layer formed on HEMA-st surfaces demonstrated nonthrombogenic activities in vivo and secure long-term patency of small caliber vascular grafts with the absence of an endothelial cell lining.