Clinical and laboratory experience with heparin-impregnated silicone shunts for carotid endarterectomy.

Our experience with use of a Silastic shunt for carotid endarterectomy is reviewed briefly, and the complication of shunt thrombosis despite intraoperative administration of heparin is noted. Of obvious importance are the reduction of blood flow and the possibility of embolization caused by accumulating thrombus. Shunt thrombosis has been abolished by the use of heparin-impregnated Silastic shunts. In experiments in dogs, such heparin-treated shunts showed greater thromboresistance than did untreated shunts.