Small caliber heparin loaded ultrafine microfiber woven graft achieved high patency rate in a preliminary study of canine carotid artery implantation.

Objective: In the past five decades, many small caliber vascular grafts have been developed as bypasses for infrapopliteal or coronary arteries. However, reliable grafts have not been obtained owing to poor patency, mainly caused by early thrombosis or neointimal hyperplasia in the intermediate period after implantation. We developed a novel small caliber heparin-loaded polyethylene terephthalate ultrafine microfiber (HL-PET) graft and evaluated the feasibility to overcome those main causes of graft failure in canine carotid artery implantation.