EPTFE prostheses

The first series of femoro-popliteal shunts, including 15 patients suffering a severe lower limb arterite (level III, even IV) and for whom the saphenous vein could not be used, was reported by Campbell in 1976 [20] the patency rate at 8 months was 87%. These ePTFE prostheses made surgeons very enthusiastic and at least one of them, Veith [21], argued in their favour through an impressive... 

X. Kapfer, W. Meichelboeck, F.M. Groegler, Comparison of carbon-impregnated and standard ePTFE prostheses in extra-anatomical anterior tibial artery bypass a prospective randomized multicenter study, Eur. J. Vase. Endovasc. Surg. 32 (2006) 155-168. 

Bordenave L, Fernandez P, Remy-Zolghadri M, et al. In vitro endothelialized ePTFE prostheses clinical update 20 years after the first realization. Clin Hemorheol Microcirc 2005 33 227-34. 

Bellon JM, Bujan J, Contreras LA, Hernando A, Jurado F. Similarity in behavior of polytet-rafluoroethylene (ePTFE) prostheses implanted into different interfaces. J Biomed Mater Res 1996 31 1-9. 

E. L. Chaikof, The effect of a recombinant elastin-mimetic coating of an ePTFE prosthesis on acute thrombogenicity in a baboon arteriovenous shunt. Biomaterials 28 (2007) 1191-1197. 

An alternative approach is to blend the silk fibroin filaments with more biostable materials. Initial trials in our laboratory have demonstrated that weaving silk fibroin filaments with polyester (PET) yarns to fabricate a 4 mm diameter tubular prosthesis provides both superior mechanical properties and improved cytocompatibility compared to current commercial ePTFE devices. Zhang s group at Soochow University has taken a tissueengineering approach to electrospin a tubular composite scaffold from a... 

One other material that is used for its limited cell adhesion feature is expanded pol-ytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was launched in the 1940s by Du Pont de Nemours as Teflon brand name. PTFE was used for the first time as a vascular prosthesis in 1963 by Edwards Lifescience and then in 1970s by Gore-Tex in expanded and microporous form (Fig. 13.12). Polytetrafluoroethylene is very stable chemically and has high hydrophobic grade that provides reduced throm-bogenicity compared to material such as PET. However, ePTFE-related mechanical properties are very poor with low compliance and elasticity. 

---