Vascular prostheses fabricated from

Vascular prostheses fabricated from ePTFE with different diameters for different surgical applications. 

Since the current prosthesis materials (Dacron and Teflon) are thrombogenic, our approach to solving the small diameter vascular prosthesis problem was to develop a blood compatible polymer. Much of these studies have been summarized in Reference 1. One of the polymers that we prepared which appeared to have a nonthrombogenic surface was a block copolyether-urethane-urea material. However, when this urethane material was fabricated into small diameter solid wall tubes and implanted in dogs, occlusion occurred within several days. Prostheses recovered from these experiments gave evidence that the thrombus was originating at the anastomosis between the artery and the prosthesis. We believed that a mismatch in compliance between the polymer and... 

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